Electromagnetism (Currently Being Rewritten)
by lesliegardner11
Summary: There's a new ghost in town... and she's one of the biggest mysteries Danny ever faced. Suspicion rises when an orphaned girl shows up on the streets three days later. Danny, clueless as ever, is confused and hurt when Sam turns bitter towards him as he grows closer to the kind ghost. But then something happens, and Danny and the ghost get thrown into danger.
1. Author's note

Hello to all reading this.

So, a while back I wrote this story, but I never finished it because I didn't like where it was going, and I started to get writer's block and put it off more and more. Well, it's been on my mind ever since, and I've decided to totally rewrite it. On top of that, I'm going to make a comic version of it on DeviantArt because I thought that it would be cool. However, nothing of the story nor comic will be posted anywhere until I am 110% done with it so that I avoid posting unfinished work. I don't like when people share their work with the public and then not finish it, and I am aware that I am being a hypocrite when I say that. I want this story to be the best it can be, and I feel that it has a great deal of potential.

Thank you for your time, beautiful person reading this. I hope you have a good day.


	2. (Please read) Another Author's Note

Hello to all reading this. Okay, nevermind the introduction, I'm going to get straight to the point because I can deny it no longer.

I need a beta reader... badly. I want this story to be smooth and easy to follow, not all over the place with incomplete plots and subplots. On top of that, I think that with the influence of another person, I'll be able to pull myself through this way better than I have previously.

I will admit, I am very reserved when it comes to other people reading my stories simply because I don't want to be judged too harshly. That's why I didn't have a beta reader before. However, there's always a million different things running through my mind as I type each word of this story. This story has potential, I can feel it in my gut. The problem is, I get carried away with plots and lose track of the passing of time, and it muddles my story to where it turns off readers. If I had a beta, I think it would turn out much better than I could ever do by myself.

So if any of you great people out there are beta readers or know people who are beta readers, I ask that you please PM me. Anybody would be a big help.

Thank you so much for your time,

lesliegardner11

 **TL;DR:**

 **I need a beta reader. Please PM me if you are one.**


	3. Chapter 1: Electrifying

**Hello, there! Welcome to my very first Danny Phantom Phanfiction! Since I'm new at Fanfiction and haven't ever written a complete story ever on here, I apologize for any OOCs and all that Jazz (did you catch my joke?).**

 **Disclaimer:** **You are not a true Danny Phantom Phan if you think that Danny Phantom belongs to me and not Butch Hartman. The only thing(s) I own is the plot and my character(s).**

* * *

Being an orphan isn't easy. Being homeless isn't easy. Being unloved isn't easy. These are the things Colle had to deal with. She had to deal with living on the streets, theft, and life-threatening situations. She wished she had her parents back. But it was all history, she told herself, and she couldn't change the past. She'd just have to keep moving forward. Colle nonchalantly walked along the alleyway, trying her best to not draw attention to herself. She stopped in front of a large, filthy dumpster. Getting on her hands and knees, she pulled a piece of paper out from under it. It was a map of Illinois.

Amity Park

It was the closest town to the one she was currently in. It was only about ten miles away. She could get there fast. She took another thing out from under the dumpster. This time, it was a picture. It was what she valued most out of what little she had. The picture was faded, though one could still be able to tell what it was. The image showed four people, one man, one woman, and two little girls. The girls looked like smaller versions of the blonde-haired woman, and their eyes were the same exact shade of blue that the man had. One of the girls was wearing a black cloak like the faded, time-worn one Colle was wearing at the moment. Colle's thumb subconsciously rubbed against the old, battered snapshot. She slid the photograph into the back pocket of her threadbare jeans. Next stop: Amity Park.

* * *

"BEWARE! FOR I AM THE BOX GHOST, CONTROLLER OF ALL THINGS CARDBOARD AND SQUARE! FEAR ME!"

"Beware, for I am Danny Phantom," Amity Park's ghostly hero mocked. "Prepare to get shoved into my thermos." He uncapped the Fenton Thermos and sucked the Box Ghost in. After he was firmly on the ground, he changed into his human form.

"Dude, why do you even bother?" Tucker asked Danny.

"Because—" He cut off when his ghost sense went off. "Oh, come _on_! When will ghosts realize that they should stay in the Ghost Zone?" Danny switched back to his ghost form, Phantom. He caught a glimpse of a figure flying across Amity.

"There!" He exclaimed. "I'll be right back, guys." He flew off in the direction of the ghost, leaving his friends behind. He lost sight of the ghost when it went down an alleyway. Glaring in the direction the ghost disappeared, Phantom landed.

"Hello?" He called. "I know you're there, so just come out and face me." The response? He got shot from behind with a powerful electric shock. He shouted in pain and crumpled to his hands and knees, slightly smoldering. Electricity sparked sporadically across his body. He turned to look behind him. Nothing was there.

"Ow." He muttered as he got up with slight difficulty. "It's like the ghost portal all over again." He called out again.

"Okay, wanna do this the easy way or the hard way?"

"How about _my_ way?" A girl's voice hissed behind him. Phantom turned—and got zapped.

"Ow! That really hurt!"

"How _shocking_." The ghost girl said mockingly. "Come on, little boy, I was expecting more _resistance_ from you."

"Two can play at that game," Phantom said, getting up. "Time to pull the plug on you." He took out the Fenton Thermos, but before he had time to do anything, a yellow energy surrounded it and it exploded in his hands.

"Ow!" his gloves blackened from the explosion.

"HA! YOU CANNOT CONTAIN ME, THE BOX GHOST, IN YOUR CYLINDRICAL CONTAINER! BEWARE!" the Box Ghost shouted before flying off, along with a few other ghosts.

"Ugh!" Phantom threw his hands up above his head. "Do you know how long it took me to capture those ghosts? And how annoying the Box Ghost is?"

"Well, considering I'm currently new here and don't know anyone, no, I don't." The girl told him. "And it's really not nice to imprison others."

"I don't imprison them!" Phantom retorted. "I throw them back into the Ghost Zone, where they're supposed to be. And thanks to you, I can't."

"Sorry." The black-haired ghost didn't truly sound sorry. "I'd love to stay and _conduct_ a little dance for you, but I have to go." She turned intangible and sunk into the ground.

"Get back here!" he shouted, but there was no response. Then his watch beeped.

"Just great." Phantom groaned. "I stay out past curfew capturing ghosts, and what happens? Some new ghost girl explodes the thermos. I'm going to be in so much trouble."

* * *

"And then she just phased into the ground!" Danny exclaimed indignantly to his friends as they walked down to the lunchroom.

"You sound like you had fun." Sam said with sarcasm.

"Not now, Sam." Danny glared at her. Before either of them could say anything more, screaming erupted from the cafeteria.

"I bet it's Skulker looking to hang my pelt on his wall." Danny predicted as they ran to the commotion. Sure enough, in the lunchroom, Skulker was causing havoc. Danny ran into the nearest boys' bathroom. He looked around, making sure he was alone.

"I'm goin' ghost!" a bluish-white ring appeared at Danny's waist, splitting in two and going in opposite directions up and down his body. It lasted about a second. In Danny Fenton's place was Amity Park's ghostly hero, Danny Phantom. The white-haired teen turned intangible and flew through the wall to the lunchroom.

"I'll have your pelt this time, whelp!" Skulker said threateningly before firing a couple of missiles at Phantom. He effortlessly turned intangible again with a roll of his eyes.

"Ya know, no matter how many times you say that, it's always gross." He told him, turning back tangible. "So, how are you and your girlfriend doing? Or did she dump you because you're the Ghost Zone's lousiest hunter?"

"What's going on between me and Ember is none of your business, whelp." Skulker retorted, "And I'll show you lousy!" He launched another missile at Phantom. The halfa turned intangible again—and the projectile hit him dead center in the chest. He let out a pained scream as he was blasted back and hit the wall. He barely had time to recover before a net was launched at him, capturing him.

"What?" Phantom said, indignant and disbelieving. "Oh, come _on_! That's not fair! You could've warned me, like, 'Ok, Phantom, now I'm going to shoot you with a missile that can hit you even when you're intangible.' Or something like that!"

"But then I wouldn't have been able to catch you." Skulker unsheathed a claw-like blade from his hand. "Say goodbye to your pelt, whelp."

"I don't think so." A familiar voice came from behind Skulker right before the hunter was sucked into the Fenton Thermos. Sam walked up to Phantom and pulled the net off him.

"Danny, you do realize that if Tucker and I weren't here, you'd be hanging on Skulker's wall, right?"

"Don't remind me." Phantom said with a huff before getting up. "Let me have the Fenton Thermos; I'm going to fly over to my house real quick and throw Skulker back into the Ghost Zone."

"Won't your parents wonder why you'd be there?" Tucker asked.

"Mom and Dad are out visiting some family members for the week," Phantom told them. "They won't be home." Sam passed the thermos to him and Phantom flew off. After a couple of minutes, Mr. Lancer walked up to the remaining teens.

"Miss Manson, Mr. Foley, where is Mr. Fenton?"

"Bathroom." They both lied simultaneously.

* * *

Phantom emptied the Fenton Thermos, throwing Skulker and the other few ghosts back into the Ghost Zone. He looked at clock his dad had put in the lab.

"I still have fifteen minutes for a quick patrol over the town." Phantom said to himself. He flew through the ceiling of the lab and out of his house. After about ten minutes, he started back towards Casper High. His ghost sense went off. Two seconds later, he would've had a heart attack if ghosts had hearts.

"Ah!" He stumbled backward in the air as if he was on the ground as the same ghost girl from last night appeared out of nowhere.

"You look you saw a ghost." The cloaked ghost remarked.

"It's standing in front of me."

"That would be 'floating', as I am not on the ground and hovering in the middle of the sky."

"Same difference."

"No, it's not." The black-haired ghostly teen disagreed. She rotated her body so that she was upside down in the air. "See? _Floating_."

"What are you doing here?" Phantom asked irritably.

"I'm attracted to you."

"What?" Phantom blinked in shock.

"I'm not joking," The specter said truthfully. "It's like you have an internal magnet. Do you have iron in your ectoplasm or something else that's magnetic? Because as you probably inferred, my powers are based on electricity and electromagnetism, so if you do, that's the reason. I could sense you halfway across town." Iron in his ectoplasm? Did this ghostly girl electrocute herself to the point where she had brain damage? But as Phantom thought, he realized that the girl wasn't crazy. He learned in school that blood had minerals in it, including magnetic iron. And Phantom was part human…

"No." Phantom lied to Colle, "Why would I have iron in my ectoplasm?"

"How should I know?" She shrugged as she turned so that she was now upright. Now that Phantom wasn't being electrocuted every two seconds, he had a chance to take in the ghost girl's features. He could see glowing red eyes and pale-blue skin under the hood of the cloak. Her hair was so black that it made the cloak look dark gray. Those red eyes are what got his attention—they seemed so… _familiar_ … like he should know who they belonged to. As if he saw them more than just two times. As if—

"Ow!" a few volts of electricity shocked him out of his thoughts, running through his body at a high velocity. "What was that for?"

"Staring at me for the past two minutes."

"Couldn't you have just been like any other normal person and not electrocute me?"

"I am not a person." Colle's voice changed bitter, and Phantom tried to rephrase his words.

"oh, yeah… uh… well, couldn't you have just been like any other _ghost_ and not electrocute me?"

"I am not a ghost, either." Then, without giving Phantom a chance to process what she'd said, the ghost girl turned intangible and disappeared through the ground. One sentence hung in his mind:

 _I am not a ghost…_

 _I am not a ghost…_

 _I am not a ghost…_

* * *

 **Aaaaaand there's the first chapter (I think I'm going to die of the stupid electricity puns!). Please review and tell me what you think of my first story on so that I may or may not may need to add to or remove from the story. I also have a few questions: who do _you_ think the mysterious ghost girl is? Why do you think Danny seemed to recognize her even though he'd never seen her but once? We may never know...**


	4. Chapter 2: Nightmares

**Disclaimer: If I was the owner of Danny Phantom, I would've created Paulina just for the joy of killing her (I do not like Paulina _at all_ if you cannot already tell). Paulina is still alive, therefore I am _not_ , I repeat, _not_ the owner of Danny Phantom. Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman.**

* * *

 _"Ha! I win again, sister!" Colle said triumphantly. She was playing a game of chess with her little sister and won five out of five rounds. Her sister playfully glared at her._

 _"Only because I let you!"_

 _"That's what you said the last four times!"_

 _"No—"_ _Her sister was cut off when their mother entered the room. Her face had a calm expression, but it didn't fool Colle—her eyes told a different story._

 _"Ok, girls," Her mother said with a small smile. "Time for bed."_

 _"But it's only seven." Colle pointed out, tilting her head to the side. "Bedtime's not till—"_

 _"Don't—argue—with—me." Her mother's composure shattered like a window that was hit by a baseball. "You have to hide—now. A bad person is trying to find out family. I want you two to go to your room, lock the door, go into the bathroom, lock that door, put your hide and seek skills to the test and hide under the sink. Go!" Colle and her sister dashed off._

 _"Colle, wait. I want you to have something." Her mother pulled something out of her purse as Colle turned back to her. She gave it to the nine-year-old child. Upon inspection, Colle saw that it was a family photo that they had snapped just a couple of months ago._

 _"Now, go. Hide with your sister." Colle ran off, putting the picture in her pocket. She locked the bedroom and bathroom doors and hid under the sink with her sister. After a while, there was a commotion downstairs._

 _"That's a lot of noise down there." Colle said, "Let's go make sure Mom and Dad are okay."_

 _"Are you sure about this?"_

 _"Of course," Colle reassured her, giving a small smile. "And if there's something bad down there, I'll protect you. I promise." Colle climbed out from under the sink, her sister following. They went downstairs. Even with the lights off, Colle could tell everything was trashed. The T.V was cracked and broken; there were scorch marks all over the walls. Then Colle saw Mom and Dad. They were pinned to the wall with glowing purple handcuffs._

 _"Mom! Dad!" Colle's sister cried out, running towards them._

 _"Wait!" It was too late. Glowing handcuffs pinned her to the wall alongside Mom and Dad._

 _"Ah, dear Nicole." A voice said behind her. Colle spun around on her heel. She couldn't see the intruder's face, but she could see glowing red eyes in the darkness._

 _"Who are you?" She demanded in the bravest voice a scared nine-year-old girl could muster._

 _"I'm deeply sorry, young Nicole, but that is a question for another time." The mysterious stranger gently said. "Now, come with me. I've come to take you back home."_

 _"What are you talking about? This is my home! And I'm not leaving my family!" The eyes flashed menacingly as she spoke._

 _"Then maybe you will come if you have_ no _family." A hand rose in the darkness, and purple electric energy came out of it, heading straight for Colle's family._

"No!" Colle bolted into an upright position. Sweat beaded her forehead, her breathing was uneven and came in gasps, and her heart was pounding in her chest. She stared around as her heartrate slowed, finding herself in the alleyway in Amity Park that she deemed as her home, laying on her cloak as if it were a bed. Colle realized that her stomach was growling in hunger. She hadn't eaten in a few days. She could see the first few streaks of light in the sky that signaled the approach of dawn. Colle stood up, put on her cloak after shaking it off, and walked down the backstreets. She'd found a fruit and vegetable stand just yesterday. Maybe she could smuggle something. A bright yellow ring appeared at Colle's waist and split in two, one going up her body and the other going down. Her blonde hair turned pitch-black and her normally blue eyes now glowed scarlet. The homeless orphan named Colle Spencer was no longer there, but in her place stood a ghost—and her name is Colle Specter.

* * *

It was Saturday. Danny and his friends were in his room, trying to find information on the ghost girl Danny keeps encountering on the computer. Not very easy when you don't know her name or where she originated from.

"Dude, why don't you just try to hang out with her more and find out that way?"

"No," Sam replied sharply before Danny could say anything. "She's dangerous. From what Danny said about her electric powers, she's at least as powerful as him when he's in ghost form."

"Actually, she seemed pretty friendly towards me," Danny told Sam, spinning the chair around to face his friends. "She seems to only attack if I attack first, or if she thinks I pose a threat, like that first time I met her. The second time, she only zapped me because I was 'staring at her for two minutes'." Then Danny remembered the conversation that had happened on Thursday, two nights ago.

 _I am not a person…_

 _I am not a ghost, either…_

They were simple sentences, but what they meant was nearly impossible to figure out. Why had the cloaked 'ghost' girl said that? If she was neither human nor ghost, what _could_ she be? A demon? A witch? A vampire or werewolf? Most people deemed these things as nonexistent, but ghosts were considered nonexistent as well until Danny's dad built the Fenton Portal. Does that mean all those other things are real, as well?

"… Earth to Danny. Come in, Danny." Tucker's voice jolted Danny from his thoughts.

"Huh? What?"

"You've been having a staring contest with the wall." Sam told him. "The wall won." She added with a bit of sarcasm.

"Uh, sorry, guys. It's just…" Danny hesitated. He hadn't told his friends of what the ghost girl had told him before she disappeared. "Well, the ghost girl, last time I saw her, she said something to me."

"Which is?" Sam tapped her foot impatiently.

"She told me that she was not a person _or_ a ghost."

"Well, she must have been lying, then." Sam concluded. "She's obviously not human, so she _must_ be a ghost."

"That's not what she—"

"Danny, do you believe a _ghost_ over _me_?"

"Um, guys?" Tucker tried to interfere. "Let's just drop—"

"Zip it, Tucker!" Sam snapped before turning back to Danny. The look on her face reminded Danny of the time Sam had 'gone dragon' when she found out that Paulina just wanted to take him away from Sam. Danny must have had an alarmed look on his face because Sam seemed to cool off.

"I'm sorry, Danny." She apologized sincerely. "I know I shouldn't jump to conclusions, but I just don't want you to throw yourself into danger. You are only half-ghost—she could still kill you."

"It's okay, Sam." Danny said before puffing out his chest in an arrogant manner. "Remember? I'm the Savior of the Ghost Zone. I can handle myself." Sam sighed in defeat.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Of course," Danny reassured. "And if she turns out to be an evil ghost, I'll protect you. I promise."

"So you'll protect Sam but not me?" Tucker made them both jump. Danny had forgotten he was there.

"I'll protect you both."

"Danny!" The voice of Danny's mother sounded from downstairs. "I need you to go to that vegetable stand two blocks from her and get some carrots and potatoes for the soup I'm cooking for dinner later!"

"Ok, mom." Danny said with an annoyed groan. He changed into Phantom.

"It'll only take me about five minutes." He told his friends before flying off. Two blocks later, he switched back into his human form in an alleyway. He made his way over to the stand and picked out a few carrots and potatoes and paid for them. Right when he was going to walk away, he saw movement. He saw a girl with blonde hair at the end of the alleyway he was just in, huddling in the corner where a dumpster was perpendicular with the wall of a building. She was wearing a very old-looking black cloak, and her jeans were threadbare. She looked half-starved. Danny's 'hero instincts' kicked in.

"Can I have an apple, as well?"

"Sure thing." The vendor replied, putting an apple in the bag Danny had before Danny paid for it. He looked back at the alleyway. The girl was still there. He started to approach, "Hello? You okay?" Danny called. The girl looked at him, recoiling like a snake that was getting ready to strike.

"I'm as 'okay' as I can get when I'm starving and homeless." She hissed.

"Then here." Danny pulled out the apple when he was within arm's reach of the girl. "When I saw you, I bought this. You look like you need it."

"What'd you do to it? Poison it?"

"Well, one, I don't have any poison on me at the moment, and two, I just bought this about a minute ago." Danny pointed out. "If it's poisoned, it's not because of me. Take it." The girl slowly and unsurely took the apple out of Danny's outstretched hand. She seemed to inspect it before taking a small bite out of it. She looked back up at Danny.

"Thanks."

"No problem." As Danny walked away, he could feel the girl's blue eyes following him until he was out of sight. Making sure he was alone, Danny transformed behind a dumpster and flew off towards home. Later, at dinner, his mom made some soup that was so acidic it burned a hole through the bowl it was in.

* * *

Danny was on patrol as Phantom, flying above the city. Though he was alert for all ghosts, he was extra watchful for the ghost girl. Then, there was an explosion so loud that a deaf person could have heard it. Phantom went off course.

"Hey, guys, did you hear that?" He said through the Fenton Phones he had on.

"Dude, how could we _not_?" Tucker replied.

"I feel sorry for the people who might've been near it." Sam said.

"I'm going to check it out." Phantom told them. It came from the direction of the park. What he saw had his jaw drop.

"If I can't have Danny Phantom, I'll just take _you_ as a trophy."

"You're messing with the wrong girl!" The ghost girl was in the middle of a fight with Skulker. She powered up an electrified ecto-energy ball and threw it at Skulker. Said electric ecto-energy ball hit Skulker in the chest. Skulker's metal battle suit conducted the electricity and electrocuting him greatly, weakening him.

"And it's really not nice to imprison others." The blue-skinned ghost girl said with a glare. "Goodbye." She kicked Skulker in the face. Phantom stayed silent for a moment.

"I'm going to file you under 'do not mess with'." The ghost girl spun around to face him, putting up a defensive stance. Once she realized who it was, she lowered her defenses.

"Oh, it's you." She let out a breath. "You're Danny Phantom, right? That mechanical ghost was talking about a ghost boy he couldn't ever catch, and the only one I could think of was you."

"Yeah, I'm Danny Phantom." He clarified. "The 'debatable' ghostly hero of Amity Park."

"I'm aware that I haven't told you my name yet." the girl said to him. "My name is Colle Specter, the 'living circuit'."

"Living circuit?"

"Yeah," Colle said with a nod and a smile, revealing sharp, vampire-like fangs. "Think of my electric core as the battery, my veins as wires, and my powers as the lightbulb."

"Ghosts don't have veins."

" _Most_ ghosts." Colle argued with Phantom. "I have ectoplasmic vein-like structures that conduct the electricity like metal wires from my core to the rest of me and vice versa like a complete circuit."

"You sure are smart when it comes to electricity."

"I have to be, or I wouldn't be as powerful as I am." Just as Colle finished, Phantom saw Skulker trying to stand up.

"Skulker, didn't I just put you in the Ghost Zone just a couple of days ago?" He got out the Fenton Thermos. Even though Phantom had no intention of capturing Colle, he could still see the red-eyed ghost stiffen. Skulker didn't have time to do anything before he was sucked into the thermos.

"Thanks?" It came out as more of a question than a statement of gratitude.

"You're welcome." Phantom looked at his watch. "It's time for me to go. I don't want to stay out past curfew. My parents will kill me."

"You're already dead." Phantom realized his mistake.

"Oh, um… well, my parents definitely won't be happy." He corrected. "Bye, Colle." He flew off rather quickly, trying to get back to his house before he forgot any of the information Colle gave him. Maybe his dad would know about ghosts with electric powers. He is a ghost-hunter, after all. Phantom also needed to add Colle and the information he knew about her to the ghost files. He got to his house in a record time of thirty seconds.

* * *

Colle's only thoughts all day were the black-haired boy and Danny Phantom. They seemed to have a lot in common with each other. In fact, Colle couldn't find anything different between the two, apart from different eye and hair color and the way they dressed. It was rather peculiar how Phantom had just flown off like he did. If Colle didn't know any better, she'd say that he didn't want to be around her, just like everyone else on the planet. She walked down the alley crestfallenly with similar thoughts running through her head. She got to her 'home' behind one of the dumpsters and took off her cloak, laying it down on the ground like a pallet. She reluctantly laid down on it, dreading the nightmares that were sure to come.

 _"What are you talking about? This is my home! And I'm not leaving my family!"_

 _"Then maybe you will come if you have_ no _family." A hand rose in the unlit room, and purple electricity crackled as it headed in the direction of her family._

 _"No!" Colle cried out as bloodcurdling screams, earsplitting and agonizing, filled the room. She tried to run towards them, but the stranger grabbed the back of Colle's shirt while still electrocuting her family._

 _"Stop! Don't hurt them!" Tears rolled down Colle's cheeks as she sobbed._

 _"You have to be strong enough to let them go, my dear. Forget them. You have a power that only three people in the whole world have, not including yourself. If you come with me, you can use this power to your advantage."_

 _"I'm never going!" Colle struggled harder against the man's grip. He put more volts into the purple electricity. Colle could see the pain in her parents' eyes subside, and they stopped moving. Colle's sister was all that was left. The expression on her face pained her—but Colle's heart shattered into a million pieces when the look in her sister's dying eyes told her everything she was thinking._

 _'You promised me…'_

* * *

 **It took me two weeks to figure out a good last name and backstory for Colle when I first thought of this story. Anyway, we get a little bit more of Colle's history in chapter through some nightmares that Colle experiences. Interesting...**

 **Fun Fact: I had originally made Colle full-ghost. It took me a week after creating her ghost last name to realize 'Specter' sounded very much like the last name of a kid at school, 'Spencer', and about twenty ideas popped into my head at the time. With this observation in mind, I decided to make Colle a halfa.**


	5. Chapter 3: Crushed

**Sorry it took me so long to write down this chapter. I had trouble with my computer and had to rewrite it because there was this blue screen that destroyed all the stuff that I didn't save on it, so... oops.**

 **Disclaimer: I still do not own Danny Phantom, unless Desiree grants my wish.**

* * *

It was Sunday that Danny's parents came home from their family visit.

"Hey, Dad, can you give me some information on electric ghosts?"

"Sure thing, son!" His dad replied in his big, booming voice. "Electric ghosts use a type of ecto-energy called ecto-electricity. Unlike other ghosts, they have special ectoplasm that conducts electricity from their core to the rest of their body and back to the core, just like a circuit. They also have a weakness that most other ghosts don't have: water. If enough water hits them, they can short-circuit. When that happens, they are destroyed forever. But if there isn't enough water to destroy them, it can put them in a state of great weakness. And now that you've got me thinking of electric ghosts, Danny, I want you to carry around a bottle of water everywhere you go just in case you meet one."

"You won't give me a choice, will you?"

"Nope." His dad pulled a water bottle from the fridge and handed it to Danny. "Now, run along, son. Your mother and I are working on creating a device called the Fenton Fryer that can destroy a ghost with a push of a button."

"Sounds… dangerous."

"Don't worry, Danny. It will only destroy ghosts."

 _That's what I'm afraid of._ Danny wanted to say but didn't. "Okay, Dad. Bye." He walked out of the house rather quickly. Making sure no one was watching, Danny changed into Phantom and flew in the direction of Sam's house. She said yesterday that she and Tucker were going to be watching movies there. But before he even got halfway there, his ghost sense went off, sending chills down his spine.

"Ugh," Phantom muttered irritably. "Why can't I ever go anywhere without running into a ghost?" He scanned the area as he lowered himself to the ground.

"Colle, is that you?" he called out, and his reply was a series of excited barks.

"Oh—no!" his words turned into an alarmed shout, and the next thing he knew, he was being dragged across the ground.

"C-Cujo! D-down, boy!" he managed to say as his back painfully skidded down the sidewalk. Cujo stopped, and—started shredding Phantom's boot with his razor-sharp teeth.

"Ow! Cujo, quit!" He ripped his boot away from Cujo. "Bad, Cujo, bad!" The green ghost puppy's ears drooped shamefully and he whined.

"Oh, Cujo, I could never stay mad at you." Phantom succumbed to pity and scooped up Cujo in his arms. Cujo happily started licking his face.

"I always wanted a dog, but my sister was allergic." A girl's voice made Phantom jump. He turned his head and saw Colle floating behind him with a remorseful look on her face.

"Hi, Colle." He greeted the cloaked ghost girl. "You don't seem happy like you usually do. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Colle told Phantom, but the unhappy tone in her voice told him otherwise. "Just… memories."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No!" Colle suddenly snapped, making both Phantom and Cujo flinch. "You think I want to talk about the death of my parents and sister? Ha! I can't believe it'd even _cross your mind_ that I would want to talk about it!" Her glowing red eyes, anguished and grief-stricken, tore through Phantom's would-be heart.

"I'm sorry, Colle." Phantom said, sympathy showing in his voice. "I didn't know. I'm sorry your family died."

"No, don't be." Colle said, and Phantom could visibly see that she was forcing herself to relax as she lowered herself to the ground in front of Phantom and Cujo. "I shouldn't take it out of you. It's not your fault they're dead, it's mine."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh, okay." Phantom tried to keep his disappointment from showing. He really wanted to help Colle, but she wasn't allowing it. Phantom could tell that Colle has a much more troubled life—or afterlife, that is—than he has. It drives his 'hero instincts' crazy. If only she'd let Phantom help her.

"Colle, I—" he started, but never finished. A blue beam of light hit Colle and she was sucked away from Phantom.

"Danny, help!"

"Colle!" Phantom lunged for the blue-skinned ghost, grabbing her hand in his. But he couldn't get free of the beam of light, and both of them were sucked into the Fenton Thermos. Inside, Phantom was on his back, and Colle was face-down, lying on top of him.

"Okay, this is _really_ awkward." He remarked, trying to get in a more comfortable position but only succeeding in closing what little space was between him and Colle.

"I agree." Colle stated; her face was only about a centimeter from Phantom's. Colle's hood had come off her head at some point, and Phantom could see every little detail on her face. _Wow, I never knew a ghost could be so pretty_. Then, they were suddenly thrown out of the Fenton Thermos, and Phantom landed on top of Colle with a grunt. Cujo let out a bark.

"Danny!" Phantom turned his head to see Sam and Tucker running towards him and Colle. Sam held the thermos.

"Sam, why'd you do that?" He asked, rolling off Colle so that he was now beside her.

"You seemed pretty comfortable around _her_." Sam said with a voice colder than Phantom's core, ignoring the question. "Aren't you supposed to capture ghosts?"

"I am," Phantom said. "But—"

"Then why did you try to _save_ her when I sucked her into the Fenton Thermos?"

"Because she's my friend!" He defended himself, standing up. "Just like you and Tucker are my friends. If you could get sucked up by the Fenton Thermos, I'd save you, too."

"But _why_ are you friends with her? You never try to befriend any other ghosts."

"That's because she doesn't attack me every time I run into her like other ghosts do!"

"Danny, Sam, settle down." Tucker tried to stop the argument. "Sam, just let Danny—"

"Put himself in danger?" Sam finished. "I don't think so."

"Sam, that's your name, right?" Colle had gotten up at some point and walked up beside Phantom. Her hood was still down, so he could clearly see the angry look on her face.

"Yes, it is."

"Okay, _Sam_. I want to ask you something." Colle's voice was foreboding. "Why do you think you have the power to control Danny? Do you really think you can tell him who he can be friends with or not? Are you—" her eyes flashed. "— _jealous_?"

"No," Sam hissed. "I just don't want Danny getting hurt because of _you_."

"Well, then, I guess I'll take my leave." Colle growled before turning to Phantom. "Good—day." Her words were strained. Without waiting for Phantom's reply, she put her hood on and flew into the ground. Phantom turned to Sam.

"That was really mean, Sam." Phantom said sarcastically, giving her a glare. "Maybe you should think about what Colle said. You can't control me, Sam. I know you just want to protect me, but I can protect myself. I'm going to go see if I can find Colle—and you can't stop me."

* * *

Phantom had put Cujo back in the Ghost Zone before going to find Colle. He had searched the whole town for hours, but there was no sign of her. He finally gave up and changed back into Fenton behind his house. He decided to try to find the homeless girl he gave that apple to.

"Hello, son!" Boomed his dad when Danny entered the kitchen.

"Hi, Dad." Danny greeted. "I was going to meet a… friend. I wanted to bring her something. Bye!" Danny grabbed an orange and ran out of his house. He went to the spot where he'd last seen the girl. He looked around.

"Hello?"

* * *

Colle watched the black-haired boy from the tiny space between the dumpster and the brick wall.

"Hello?" He called out. Colle wondered whether or not she should show herself. She didn't know this boy, and she couldn't change back into a ghost to make a getaway without the flash of light alerting him.

"If anyone's out here, I want you to step out so I can see you."

"Make me." Colle muttered under her breath. Suddenly, the boy's head snapped his head in her direction. Colle couldn't hold back a small gasp of surprise and alarm as she flattened herself against the wall. The boy rounded the dumpster and saw her.

"Get away!" Colle growled as she tensed for a fight.

"Wow," the boy said disbelievingly. "You look even worse than last time I met you."

"If you've come to torment me, then you're messing with the wrong girl!" Colle said with a cold voice. "Don't underestimate me."

"Trust me, I don't." Danny said. "I know from experience that girls shouldn't be underestimated."

"Why?"

"I met this girl who literally toasted me." He let out a little laugh before taking something out of his pocket. It was an orange.

"Come out," He gently pressed. "I have this for you—and before you ask, it's not poisoned." Colle slowly and cautiously came out of hiding. She didn't know why she listened to the boy, but something inside her told her he wouldn't hurt her. Colle's sapphirine eyes met the boy's pale blue ones before she took the orange from his hand.

"What's your name?" The boy suddenly asked.

"Nobody knows my name anymore." Colle replied before peeling the orange and taking a bite out of it.

"You don't have a name?"

"I have a name." Colle retorted. "But I haven't used it in years."

"Can you tell me it?" Colle sighed at the boy's question.

"If you must know, my name is Colle Spencer." She told him irritably.

"Colle Spencer…" The boy's eyes showed that he was deep in thought.

"Something wrong?"

"No, it's just… my friend's name is Colle Specter…"

 _I don't know you._ Colle was genuinely confused. This boy says he's friends with Colle in ghost form, but Colle never remembered seeing this boy at all, apart from this and one other time, and she hadn't been in ghost form.

"That's peculiar." She remarked. "I know Colle Specter, but she's always telling me about a boy named Danny Phantom. She's never mentioned you before."

* * *

Danny was officially stuck between a rock and a hard place. He didn't think was going to get out of this one, unless a ghost conveniently popped up from the ground.

"Well, um… you see… er…" Colle narrowed her eyes at his stuttering. "I-I need to go… bye!"

"Wait!" Colle shouted, getting his attention. He turned around.

"What's your name?"

"D-Danny Fenton." He ran.

 _I have a friend named Colle Specter…_

 _She's always telling me about a boy named Danny Phantom. She's never mentioned you before…_

 _Danny Phantom…_

 _Danny Fenton…_

 _Phantom…_

 _Fenton…_

Colle found it more that odd that both boys had the name first names and very similar last names. Then she felt a small tingle inside her heart, where her core would be if she was in ghost form. It was the same tingle that she felt whenever Danny Phantom was nearby. She called it her 'Danny Tracker' ever since she met him. She changed into Colle Specter and allowed herself to be drawn to where it was coming from. She was led to a house with a sign that said 'Fenton Works' on it. That's when Specter no longer could feel the slight pull of the 'magnet'. She phased through the wall of the building, staying invisible, and tried to find the magnet. But she couldn't find it. The last room she checked was upstairs. She phased through the door and—saw Danny Fenton staring out the window. He shivered when Specter came in the room, and she thought she saw a blue mist escape his lips.

"Just what I need." He groaned. "Another ghost." Then, the unthinkable happened. A bluish-white ring appeared at Fenton's waist, split in two, and traveled in opposite directions, turning his black hair white and blue eyes green. His shirt and jeans changed into the black jumpsuit with white gloves, boots, belt and collar that Danny Phantom always wore. Specter dropped her invisibility out of pure shock and let out a gasp. Danny spun around, and when he saw her, his eyes widened in horror.

" _Colle_?"

* * *

 **I know, I know, I'm a terrible person who leaves people hanging off cliffs. When I (re)wrote this chapter, I just couldn't resist.**


	6. Chapter 4: Home

**Good grief! It took me waaaaaay to long to write this chapter. I would tell you why, but I have no reason whatsoever.**

 **Disclaimer: If you still think I own Danny Phantom, you haven't been reading my other disclaimers.**

* * *

 _Danny was in his room, staring out of the window. The Sun was setting, making the sky glow a brilliant orange. Then, a chill went down his back as his ghost sense went off._

 _"Just what I need." Danny groaned. "Another ghost." Danny changed into Phantom, but just as he was about to fly off, he heard someone gasp behind him. He spun around, and when he saw her, his heart would've stopped if he wasn't a ghost._

 _"Colle?"_

"D-Danny…" Her voice reflected the hurt that was in Specter's glowing scarlet eyes.

"You didn't see that, right?" Phantom asked nervously.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Specter snapped, red eyes blazing. Sparks of electricity crackled sporadically across her body, giving Phantom the impression that she was _more_ than just angry.

"I-I'm sorry, Colle…" Phantom apologized. "I know I should've told you, but…"

 _Come on, Phantom! Swallow your pride!_ He told himself.

"But I was afraid…"

"Of me." Specter hissed, turning so that her back faced Phantom.

"No," Phantom denied. "I didn't tell you for the same reason I didn't tell my parents: I was afraid they wouldn't accept me as their son, and I was afraid that you wouldn't accept me as a friend. If Sam and Tucker weren't there when it happened, I wouldn't have told them for the same reason."

"So, nobody knows this?" Specter asked icily, not looking back at him.

"No," Phantom told her, walking up behind her and putting his hand on her shoulder. "Nobody but Sam, Tucker, and my bigger sister, Jazz."

"I wish I still had a sister…" Specter whispered ruefully. She brought her hand up to her shoulder, brushing her warm fingers against Phantom's cold, gloved ones.

"Colle, I want you to know that if you weren't a ghost, I'd let you stay here." Phantom said to the grieving ghost girl. "But there's ghost traps around the house that are triggered by anything using ecto-energy. And my parents are ghost hunters; I don't think they'd like the idea of their son inviting a ghost to live under the same roof as them."

"Remember what I told you?" Specter asked. "About me not being a ghost or a human?"

"Yes, and I haven't come up with any ideas about what that means."

"Well, here's what it means," Specter said. "It means that I am only partially deceased, therefore I can interchange my physical structures between that of an ethereal being and a human."

"You—what now?" Specter's words had gone through one of Phantom's ears and out the other. "Can you dumb that down a little?"

"It means I'm half-ghost!" Specter snapped, spinning to face Phantom. Phantom watched, shocked, as a yellow ring appeared at Specter's waist and split in two, changing her black hair to blonde, her red eyes to blue, and her white cloak to black as they traveled across her body vertically in opposite directions. In front of Phantom now was Colle Spencer.

"You're that homeless girl?" Phantom said in disbelief.

"Yes," Colle affirmed, giving him a glare. "I'm the starving homeless orphan who's lived on the streets since she was nine."

"Really? I've never noticed you."

"That's because I bounce from town to town." Colle told him. "I never stay in one spot. This is the longest I've ever stayed in one town."

"You've only been here about a week."

"Then now you can picture in your mind how much I move." Colle retorted. "I don't want to get caught."

"By…?"

"The ghost who…" Colle's voice trailed off, and it took her a moment to find it again. "The ghost who killed my family. He said I had a special power that only a few other people had, so he electrocuted my family when I refused to join him. Then, he electrocuted me. I don't know why, but… I somehow absorbed the electricity into my body… and then there was this bright flash of light that seemed to come from inside of me and… I redirected the electricity back to him and knocked him out. I ran away as fast as I could, as far as I could. I found out that I was a ghost a few hours later when I saw myself in the reflection of a pond looking like this." She switched back into a ghost as a demonstration before continuing.

"What was weird, though, was the fact that when I became half-ghost, I felt a force similar to the one I feel that I use to track you down. When I got older, I realized it must have been something magnetic that was in the ghost's ectoplasm… and now that I know you're half-human with blood, which contains iron, in your ectoplasm, it can only mean one thing…" Phantom realized what she was implying—and there was only one other half-ghost that he knew of who would possibly kill for power.

"Colle, did you happen to see what this ghost looks like?" Phantom asked her. "Say, pale blue skin, red eyes, black hair—fangs, maybe?"

"That's really specific," Specter remarked. "But I did see red eyes."

 _That rules Danielle off the list._ Phantom thought. _And unless there's any more halfas in the world, Plasmius is the only one that fits that description._

"Colle, I think I might know who killed your parents." Phantom said after a moment of thinking.

"What?" A deaf person could hear the shock in Specter's voice. "How?"

"Well, there's this halfa I know whose name in Vlad Masters." Phantom explained. "He lives in Wisconsin."

"I must go there." Specter's voice was barely a whisper, but Phantom's enhanced sense of hearing caught it as if she'd yelled it out through a megaphone.

"Colle, not that I want to put you down, but…" Phantom fumbled for words, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Plasmius is evil—and powerful, too. I'd never admit this in front of him, but he can kick my butt."

"So can I."

"No…" Phantom denied.

"What me to prove it?" She conjured a ball of electric energy, twirling it on one of her fingers like a basketball, and smirked, showing her vampirish fangs.

"No." He said quickly, and Specter got a triumphant smile on her face as the electricity ball diminished into nothing. Once the joking moment was over, the smile fell from Specter's face like the Sun that was currently setting, and she walked over to the window, staring out of it like Phantom was doing earlier.

"Danny, it doesn't matter how evil he is, how powerful he is, or if he can 'kick your butt'." Specter told him with a sad shake of her head. "He killed my family, Danny, my _family_. The ones I had grown up with. Danny, how would you feel if someone killed your parents and sister?"

"Trust me, I know the feeling. Not very pleasant, isn't it?" Phantom told her, thinking back to when his family had 'blown up' due to his future. Luckily, Clockwork reversed time and gave him a second chance. Phantom saw Specter's body being racked with silent sobs. He put his hand on her shoulder and turned her around to face him. Specter's deep red eyes were anguished, vengeful, indignant, and hateful all at the same time. It really pained Phantom to see her so upset. He pulled the electric halfa into a hug. At first, Specter was tense at his action, but soon she pressed herself up against Phantom, wrapping her arms around his torso and burying her face into his neck. Phantom could feel her trembling as they embraced. She felt slightly warm against him, probably due to him having an ice core. Being so close to her felt… right. Specter gradually stopped shaking as moments passed by and pressed herself closer to Phantom, if that was possible.

"Colle, I want to ask you something." Phantom said gently without pulling away.

"Ask away." Specter murmured in reply.

"Since you have nowhere to stay, and you're not totally powerless against the house's ghost defenses, I wanted to know if you wanted to live here with me and my family." Specter pulled away slightly so that she could look up at Phantom, who stood about two inches taller that her.

"But what if _he_ finds me?"

"Don't worry," Phantom soothed the blue-skinned girl. "He won't come."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Of course," Phantom reassured Specter. "And if he does, I'll protect you. I promise." As soon as the words left his mouth, Colle pulled away sharply and stared up at him with wide, fearful eyes.

* * *

 _"Let's go make sure Mom and Dad are okay."_

 _"Are you sure about this?"_

 _"Of course. And if there's something bad down there, I'll protect you. I promise."_

 _… I'll protect you. I promise…_

 _… I'll protect you…_

 _… I'll protect you…_

 _… You promised me…_

Specter was broken from her daze when Phantom started shaking her, much like someone would do to wake someone from bed.

"Colle, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm, I'm fine…"

"You kind of went into some sort of trance. It worried me."

"Sorry…" Specter said. "But… you just said the exact same words I had said to my sister before… before…"

"Before she… died?"

"Yeah…" Specter affirmed distantly.

"I am now changing the subject." Phantom abruptly said. "About you staying here… do you want to?"

"I don't know…" Specter replied uncertainly. "I don't want to get caught, I don't want to be a burden on your family, and… and… I don't want _him_ to… to take your family away from you just because I'm here."

"He won't." Phantom told her. "I won't let him."

"But—" Phantom pressed a gloved finger against Colle's lips, silencing her.

"But he won't come, so 1) I won't need to protect anybody from him, 2) You do not need to worry about that, 3) he won't be able to come into the house because of the ghost defenses, and 4) I have parents who hunt ghosts for a living and have weapons to fight against him. My dad rocks whenever his family is put in danger. Trust me, I've seen him in action." Phantom took brought his hand down from Colle's face, allowing her to freely speak."

"If you're one hundred present sure about it and your parents allow it, I accept."

"Great!" He smiled before transforming back into Fenton. "Colle, change back. Let's go get my parents and ask them if you can stay."

"Okay." Now that they were both human, Danny took Colle's hand in his and led her out of his room.

"Uh, Danny?" Colle said. "Won't your parents wonder why I'm in your house?"

"Oh… I never thought of that…" Danny said, blushing in embarrassment. "Uh… I can fly us through my window to get out of the house."

* * *

"Hi, Danny." A woman in a blue jumpsuit greeted Danny. Colle assumed she was Danny's mom.

"Who's that you have with you, son?" A man in an orange jumpsuit said in a booming voice, making Colle flinch at the loud sound, and she subconsciously put her hood over her head. Danny, who was right in front of her, must have felt her jump.

"It's okay, Colle. They're just my parents." Danny soothed her before turning to his parents. "This is Colle Spencer. I found her on the streets a little less than a week ago. I was wondering if we could let her stay here with us."

"Oh, you poor thing." Danny's mom said sympathetically to Colle. "My name is Maddie and this is my husband, Jack. Where are you parents, sweetie? Do they live nearby?"

"I'm an orphan…" Colle's voice shook as she spoke. Memories flooded her mind. Glowing red eyes. A hand in the dark. Electricity. Bloodcurdling screams.

"Mom, she has no one left." Danny said something else, but Colle was no longer listening.

 _…You have no one left, Colleen. Nobody but_ me _…_

 _…I hate you… you're a big, mean monster… I'll never join you…_

 _… Then you force me to do something I really don't want to do to you…_

"Great!" Danny's happy voice jolted Colle from her little flashback. She felt a hand grasp hers.

"Come on, Colle, I'll show you around the house." Danny started leading Colle somewhere. "Away from my parents." She heard him mutter under his breath.

* * *

Danny had just given Colle a house tour. All that was left was the lab.

"Come on, Colle, there's still one thing left to show you." He said, leading her downstairs into the basement. Colle looked around, "What is this?"

"It's my parents' lab." Danny told the girl. Colle nodded, and then she looked straight past Danny.

"What's that?" Danny turned around, and saw the Fenton Portal.

"That's a ghost portal to the Ghost Zone."

"Ghost portal? Ghost Zone?" Colle looked deep in thought. "I feel like I've heard those phrases before."

"You probably heard me talking about it at some point." Danny reasoned.

"No, I meant before I met you. Before my family… died."

"That doesn't make any sense." Danny said with confusion. "Unless your parents hunted ghosts or something, that—"

"Kids!" His mom's voice interrupted him. "Dinner's almost ready!"

"We can talk about it later." Danny said. "Let's go." He led Colle out of the lab and into the kitchen, where his mom, dad, and sister were. Jazz looked up at the sound of their footsteps.

"Hello," Jazz smiled at Colle. "Mom was just telling me about you, Colle. I'm Jazz."

"Hi." The orphaned girl greeted concisely, seeming to shrink inside her cloak. Danny took her hand once again and led her to the dinner table.

"Come on, Colle." Danny said, pulling out a chair for Colle. "Sit." She looked at the chair and then back to Danny, hesitating.

"Colle, would I ever try to hurt you?" Colle shook her head. "The chair's safe, Colle. Trust me." She reluctantly sat. Danny smiled as he sat down in a chair next to her. His mom took a casserole out of the oven. Thankfully, it didn't come alive. Danny looked over at Colle as his mom served it. Her expression made Danny hurt a little. She looked like she'd never seen food before in her life. Danny's mom put a spoonful of casserole on Colle's plate.

"If you like it, you can have more." She told Colle. "If not, I can get something else for you to eat."

"I think this is the most food I've seen since I was nine!" Colle exclaimed, prodding the casserole with her fork. Danny, his mom, his dad, and Jazz all exchanged a look of pity for the girl. Danny looked back at Colle, who was now starting to eat her casserole. He felt a feeling deep in his heart when he saw how happy she looked. He'd felt that feeling before, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He started eating his own share of casserole, his eyes not once leaving Colle.

* * *

"This is the guest bedroom." Colle nodded at Danny's words. "So… goodnight, I guess…"

"Goodnight, Danny." She smiled a little. She'd never been so happy, well-fed, and thankful. She walked into the bedroom and examined her surroundings. It had a bed, just like any other normal bedroom. Colle couldn't remember what sleeping on a bed felt like. She walked over to it and put a hand on it.

"So soft…" She murmured. She climbed into it and pulled the covers up. It was only a few moments before she was asleep.

And the nightmares she had were a little less intense.

* * *

 **Ok, then! Sorry that this was such a sucky chapter. Think of it as a really boring story filler...**


	7. Chapter 5: Valentine's Day

**Happy Valentine's Day, all you Phantom Phans! I deliberately rushed through this chapter so that I would be able to update on Valentine's Day.**

 **Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Danny Phantom because if I was, the show would've never been canceled.**

 **(Oh, and to clear up any confusion that may or may not exist, all this is happening in the third season, before Phantom Planet. Also, in my school, most of the sophomores are 16. This means that Danny is sixteen, and also a sophomore in Casper High)**

* * *

It was Valentine's Day. Colle had lived with the Fenton's house for a few days now. It was also going to be her first day at Casper High. Colle was not looking forward to it. She hasn't been to school since she was nine. Going from grade school to high school was a big leap. Colle already knew she'd be very much behind in her classes. She barely knew multiplication! She sighed unhappily before opening her bedroom door. Outside, Danny stood with his fist raised, as if he was about to knock on the door.

"Oh, hi there, Colle." Danny greeted, dropping his hand to his side. "I was just about to get you."

"Hi, Danny." Colle replied. "So…" she trailed off awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

"Um… I, uh, wanted to… show you something, uh… down in the lab…" Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Ok, then."

"Great, come on!" Danny grabbed Colle's hand. Colle stumbled a little from the speed he was going, but never once fell. Once they were in the lab, Danny stopped.

"Change into a ghost." Danny directed.

"Okay…" She did as she was told and changed into Specter. "Why?"

"Close your eyes." Danny said, now as Phantom. "No peaking." Specter closed her eyes and waited. She felt a small, cold breeze.

"You can open your eyes now." Specter did what Phantom said, and she let out a joyful gasp at what he had. In one hand was a single rose that was made of ice and in the other was a jumpsuit that was similar to Phantom's, but it had inverted colors. Phantom walked closer to Specter until they were a couple of feet apart from each other.

"Happy Valentine's Day." He said. "The rose is made of ice that's made of ecto-energy, so it won't ever melt, and the jumpsuit was the original one I wore right before I got ghost powers. It even still has my insignia on it." He handed Specter the two gifts.

"This is…" Specter tried to find words. "I can't tell you how grateful I am, but I don't have anything for you."

"It's fine, Colle." Phantom said. "I wasn't expecting—" Specter silenced him with a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you so much, Danny."

"Me—you—kiss—I—uh—er—um… no p-problem, Colle." Phantom blushed deeply as he stumbled and stuttered. Specter thought it was cute how the tiniest of things could make him weak-kneed.

"Come on, Danny." Colle said with a smile on her face. "I don't want to be late on the first day of school."

* * *

Danny and Colle walked side-by-side into Casper High. Danny looked over at Colle, wary. He worried about how she would do in school since she hadn't been to school since she lived on the streets.

"Hey, Fen-turd!" Came a loud, obnoxious voice behind Danny and Colle. Danny turned.

"Dash, it's Valentine's Day." Danny said with an annoyed tone. "Can't you lay off for at least today?" Dash's hand shot out and snatched Danny by the front of his shirt.

"I'm afraid not, Fenton." He said menacingly. His free hand balled up into a fist as he drew it back.

"Hey!" Colle's furious voice cut through the air. "What are you doing?"

"What are you going to do—" Dash abruptly stopped when he saw who was talking to him.

"Oh… hey, there, girly." Dash said with a smile. "Come to watch the show?"

"I've come to pull the plug on the show." Colle countered. "Drop him."

"You think you can make me?" Dash was suddenly not so friendly with her. All Danny saw was a blur of black before he suddenly hit the ground with a _thud_. A few seconds afterward, he heard another _thud_. Danny turned and saw Dash facing down on the floor—with Colle pinning him down and hogtying him. Once finished, she got up and walked over to Danny. The other kids in the hallway stared after her in awe.

"Next time, think twice before messing with my friends!" Colle shouted over her shoulder before turning to Danny. "Come on, Danny. Let's get out of here."

"Fenton, you're dead!" Dash yelled angrily, struggling against the bindings.

"Touch him and your new name will be De-Fingered Dash." Colle hissed menacingly. Dash's face was priceless at the threat, but he was in no position to neither fight nor flee. As the two friends walked away from him, Danny couldn't help but smile.

"Wow, Colle!" He said, enthralled. "Nobody ever does that to Dash!"

"I'm used to having to do that." Colle didn't seem as happy. "I'm used to having to do that to people who… try to get to me or my things. I thought—what was his name? Dash?—I thought Dash would be harder to beat than that. I hogtied him twice as fast as any criminal I've ever met." Just then, the bell rang, and the crowd in the hallway dissipated as people rushed to their classes.

"Your schedule should be the same as mine," Danny said to Colle. "So I think you'll get around okay if you stay with me."

* * *

Colle warily walked into the classroom after Danny.

"Mr. Fenton, who is this you have with you?"

"This is Colle Spencer." Danny told the teacher.

"Oh, yes, Colle Spencer." He said. "My name is Mr. Lancer. Please, come to the front of the class." Colle reluctantly left Danny's side and walked over to Mr. Lancer.

"Class," He addressed the people in the room. "This is Colle Spencer. She just moved to Amity Park about a week ago. Ms. Spencer, you can sit in the empty seat beside Mr. Fenton." Colle sat down beside Danny, letting out a relieved breath. As Mr. Lancer droned on about something that had to do with math, Colle couldn't help but think that this was going to be a boring day.

* * *

Colle fiddled with her pencil, bored. She quickly found out that she did not like school. Mr. Lancer still stood in front of the class, lecturing. It was then that Danny's hand suddenly shot up.

"May I be excused?" Mr. Lancer sighed in exasperation.

"You may go, Mr. Fenton." As Danny got up, he mouthed to Colle: _ghost sense._ Colle nodded and raised her hand.

"Can I be excused, too?"

"You may go as well, Ms. Spencer."

"Thanks." Colle followed Danny out of the room. They went into their appropriate bathrooms. Colle made sure no one was around before transformed into Specter. But now, instead of her cloak turning white, it changed into the white jumpsuit with the black gloves, boots, collar and belt that Danny had given her that morning. She flew out at the same time Phantom did. He smiled at her.

"Let's go kick some butt." He said. Specter smiled as well, nodding her head. Specter followed as Phantom flew out of Casper High. It didn't take them long to find the ghost—because the ghost found them. In front of Specter stood a girl ghost with flaming teal-colored hair and bright green eyes, and she was wearing a black, one-shouldered crop top, black leather pants, and steel combat boots that looked like skulls. She carried a purple electric guitar with blue flames on it.

"Well, if it isn't the dipstick." She said, almost in a mocking matter.

"Who is that?" Specter whispered to Phantom. Since she moved in with him, she knew about a few of the ghosts that haunt Amity Park, such as Skulker, Technus, Johnny 13, and, of course, the Box Ghost. Specter has never seen this ghost before.

"Ember," Phantom growled at the ghost. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to say—" she turned the knob on the guitar. "—Happy Valentine's Day!" she strummed the guitar, and the next thing Specter knew, she and Phantom were flung backward into the wall twenty feet behind them. The two quickly recovered.

"Who's this, Phantom?" Ember turned her attention to Specter. "You got a new girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"I'm not his girlfriend!" Phantom and Specter shouted at the same time. Specter summoned up a ball of crackling, yellow ecto-electricity.

"That's an electric guitar, right?" Specter hissed. "Maybe you should've gone with acoustic." She propelled the ecto-electricity ball forward, and Ember didn't have enough time to react before it came in contact with her guitar.

"No!" Ember shrieked as her guitar exploded in her hands. "My guitar!"

"Danny, the thermos!" Specter shouted. Phantom unhooked the Fenton Thermos from his belt and pointed it at Ember. A blue beam of light hit the ghost, and she yelled out her last words of revenge as she was sucked in. Before she was fully sucked in, Phantom said, "Happy Valentine's Day to you, too." he capped the thermos and turned to Specter.

"Wow," He spoke. "I think that was an all-time record for capturing Ember."

"Great," Specter said dismissively. "Let's get back to class."

* * *

At lunch, Danny sat with Sam and Tucker like always, except now, Colle was added to their little group.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Danny." Sam said to Danny. "Tucker and I got you this present." She handed Danny a small box.

"Thanks, Sam."

"And Tucker." Tucker threw in. Danny smiled at the two. He started opening the gift, and inside was a watch-sized device.

"It's a ghost tracker," Tucker explained. "So that when your ghost sense goes off, you can find exactly where the ghost is."

"Thanks, guys." Danny snapped the ghost tracker onto his wrist before digging into his bag. "I have something for you two in my backpack somewhere—here they are." He got two packages out, handing one to Sam and one to Tucker. They opened their gifts. Sam had a black chain necklace with an amethyst gem hanging down from it, and Tucker received some sort of video game.

"Thanks, Danny." They said at the same time.

"Colle," Sam turned her attention to the black-cloaked girl. "I'm sorry that we didn't get you anything, Colle. We didn't know what you liked. We were going to go to my house and have a movie night to make up for it."

"It's okay." Colle forgave. "I didn't get you anything for the same reason—well, that, and I don't have anything of value—but a movie night sounds great." Sam and Tucker nodded.

"Great," Sam said. "We can all meet at my house at 7:00."

* * *

Colle had the best day of her life. Her, Danny, Sam, and Tucker stayed up until 9:30 watching movies and eating pizza and popcorn. Now, she lay in her bed at the Fenton's house. Despite the good day, however, something inside of Colle made her uneasily restless—and she knew exactly what it was. It was that overwhelming, almost psychopathic, desire for revenge.

* * *

 **There's the 5th chapter! I hope you liked it. Sorry if it's not very good. If you want to know, I started writing this yesterday night, so I think I just set a world record time for writing a chapter in a little less that a couple of hours (If you don't count sleeping and school).**


	8. Chapter 6: Celos

**I am sooooooooooo sorry about how long it took to update! I cannot tell you how sorry I am in this little bit of text. I have had little to no time to write this chapter because it's the end of the 4th six weeks and there has been every type of test you could ever think of, and I had to go to a qualifier meet for the Paradise Math and Science Team last Saturday and I have to go to another one tomorrow, and we just moved into our new house and it has been a crazy week since Valentine's Day. So, with the pointless excuses out of the way, I will let you read on.**

* * *

It was a week after Valentine's Day. Danny and his friends were hanging out in the park. Jazz had decided to tutor Colle so that she would do better in school, so Colle was not with the trio.

"So, Danny." Sam said with a small note of unfriendliness that Danny didn't catch. "How are you and Colle doing?"

"We're doing just fine."

"Dude, she is hot in that jumpsuit you gave her." Tucker added with a smirk that he usually puts on his face when talking about Danny and Sam being together. "Don't you think, Danny?"

"I—uh…yes—no—I don't know!" Memories of the tiny kiss Colle had given him flooded into his mind, making him blush fiercely, which, in turn, caused Tucker's smirk to grow and Sam's frown to deepen.

"Danny, do you _like_ Colle?" Tucker questioned further, the smirk never leaving his face.

"Wha—no!" Danny denied a bit _too_ quickly.

"Dude, you like Colle." Tucker concluded. "You used to act this way about Sam, too. You like her. You like Colle." That's when Danny's ghost sense went off. Tucker was still smirking.

"Have fun with your love life." he said as Danny transformed into Phantom. He gave Tucker a glare before flying off. With his enhanced hearing, Phantom heard Sam say something to Tucker.

"Danny doesn't like her, Tucker." Her voice was antagonistic. "She's half-ghost. Ghosts can't be trusted." Phantom finally flew out of earshot, confused. What did Sam mean by that? Clockwork, Wulf, Frostbite, and Princess—or rather, Queen—Dora were all ghosts, and they trusted them. And Phantom was half-ghost. Does that mean his friends didn't trust him?

"No." He ruled that off the list. "They've always trusted me." Then why was Colle not to be trusted, as stated by Sam? Phantom was bewildered and a little hurt by her. He looked down at his wrist and saw a red dot on it. Suddenly, his side seared.

"Ahh!" he shouted in pain and clutched his side. He looked up and saw Valerie in her ghost hunting gear.

"Surprise, Phantom!" she said smugly, neatly balancing on her hoverboard.

"Ow," Phantom grimaced, rubbing his tender side. "That hurt."

"Your pain is about to get a lot worse, Pha—ahh!" Valerie was abruptly electrocuted, and her words formed into a scream and she fell out of the sky, landing on her side.

"You know, you're as bad as Skulker about wearing armor that conducts electricity." Colle's voice sounded, and a few seconds afterward, Specter appeared out of nowhere. Valerie was now on her hands and knees, trying to get up. Electricity still crackled sporadically across her body.

"Who is that, Phantom? Your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"I'm not his girlfriend!" Phantom and Specter denied simultaneously, much like last time. Valerie was now standing, glaring at the two.

"So who are you?"

"I'm Colle Specter," The black-haired half-ghost growled, showing her vampirish fangs. "And you'd better get used to me—and a suit that doesn't conduct electricity." The look in Specter's eyes slightly scared Phantom. It was an expression that looked eerily familiar, even though he'd never seen it on her face. Those blood-red, crazed-up eyes… he still felt as if he'd known them for longer than a few weeks. Phantom was jolted from his thoughts when Specter shot a powerful ecto-electricity bolt at Valerie, hitting her square in the chest and making her cry out in pain as she practically crumbled to the ground.

"Colle, that's enough!" Phantom didn't want one of his classmates dying. "She's not a threat!"

"She's armed." Specter hissed at him. "That means she's dangerous."

"You've weakened her." Phantom reasoned before taking Specter's hand in his. "Let's go." The red-eyed girl shot Valerie one last glare before allowing Phantom to lead her away. As they flew, Specter spoke up.

"I don't think Sam likes me." Her voice was small.

"She'll come around." Phantom reassured Specter. "She just has to get used to you being part of Team Phantom."

"Danny, it's been a couple of weeks." Specter said skeptically as they landed in the park. "I've given up the ghost."

"Pun intended?" Phantom asked with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

"No." His smile was replaced by a sad frown. Specter transformed back into a human.

"Change back." Colle directed. "Let's go find Sam and Tucker."

* * *

Hello, Colle." The cloaked girl could hear a note of hostility in Sam's voice as she and Danny walked up to Sam and Tucker.

"Hi." Colle nodded curtly towards her. Danny looked between Colle and Sam with a confused look on his face, probably wondering why the two girls were so unfriendly towards each other. Tucker whispered something in his ear, making Danny give him an 'are-you-crazy' look.

"It's true." Tucker said aloud with a smirk on his face.

"What's true?" Sam asked, retaining a hard tone.

"It's true that—"

"Tucker, shut up!" Danny hissed, silencing him. The trio was occupied. No one was paying any mind to Colle. So, without transforming, she turned invisible and slunk out of the park, away from them. Once she was alone, she transformed into Specter and flew to the ocean beside Amity Park, where she and the trio would watch the sunset. With such a vast amount of water, it was dangerous for Specter. All someone would have to do was push her over the edge of the sidewalk, and then she'd be finished. She sat down, letting her feet dangle over the edge, regardless of how hazardous it was. Since nothing was distracting Specter, memories flooded her mind.

 _"You have no one left, Nicole. Nobody but me."_

 _"I hate you!" Colle screamed, thrashing in the evil man's grip. "You're a big, mean monster!"_

 _"Nicole, you_ must _join me!" The man snapped, tightening his grip on Colle. "It is your destiny!"_

 _"I'll never join you!"_

 _"Then you force me to do something I really don't want to do to you." The man said menacingly, and Colle cried out in agony as electricity racked her body. But, after a few seconds, Colle started to absorb the electricity like a sponge would water. The pained cry became a roar of rage, and a blinding light emitted from Colle, and the absorbed electricity surged outward from Colle in all directions, damaging everything in its path and throwing the man back into one of the walls, knocking him out. Colle seized the moment to run. As she got further away, she felt a tingling feeling in her heart and, just barely, felt a tiny, magnetic force that seemed to point in a direction, like a compass. The force was coming from the direction of Colle's house. She ignored it and kept running._

 _'My family's dead…'_

 _'What am I going to do?'_

 _'I have no one left…'_

Specter was suddenly filled with rage. _Monster,_ she thought angrily. _I'll kill him. He may be a ghost, but I don't care! I'll be the cause of his second death!_ The thought of avenging her family made Specter feel a cruel joy. She stood up and whipped around—and ran into Danny Phantom, and they both fell to the ground, Phantom facing up and Colle on top of him with her legs astride his waist.

"Ow." Phantom groaned. Specter propped herself up with her forearms and glared down at him.

"Danny, what in the laws of physics are you doing here?"

"Uh, I tracked you down using that ghost tracker Sam and Tucker got me, but when I found you, I didn't want to scare you and… you know…" he looked around Specter, gesturing to the water.

"Looks like you two are having fun." Tucker's voice made both Specter and Phantom jump. Specter scrambled off Phantom, and they both blushed fiercely. Tucker stood about ten feet away from them, and Sam was right beside him, glowering at the two halfas.

"We weren't doing anything!" Phantom said quickly as he stood up, making Specter mentally facepalm. That statement was guaranteed to cause Sam and Tucker to think something was going on.

"Yeah, nothing at all." Sarcasm dripped off Sam's words as she and Tucker walked closer.

"It's true." Specter affirmed, with a much more solemn tone than Phantom's. "If you must know, we literally ran into each other and just so happen to land in that position. Nothing more."

"Yeah." Sam scoffed, obviously not believing her. Specter cast a glance at Phantom and saw a hurt look on his face. His eyes told her unsaid words.

' _I don't get it._ _Why is Sam so unkind to Colle?'_

Specter redirected her attention to Sam. She could feel electricity starting to run angrily through her body. She couldn't hold back anymore.

"Sam, what is with you and not trusting me?" Specter snapped, hearing electricity spark across her body. "What have I done to make you think that I shouldn't be trusted?"

"I don't trust you because you could be dangerous!" Sam flared up. "I don't want Danny to get hurt because of _you_!"

"Very well," Specter faked calmness and forced herself to stop producing sparks. "I guess I'll go, then. Maybe you can discuss with Danny after I leave. I'm sure you'll believe _his_ word." She said the last statement sardonically before flying off towards the Fenton's house.

* * *

"Great job, Sam." Phantom said sarcastically. "I thought _ghosts_ were supposed to scare off _people_ , not the other way around. And Colle was telling the truth. We weren't doing anything."

"Ok, Danny." Sam sighed. "If you say so."

"Why don't you trust Colle?"

"Sam's jealous of Colle because you like Colle more than her." Tucker answered before Sam could say anything.

"I do not!" Phantom denied hastily, feeling a blush on his face.

"Dude, you're a horrible liar." Tucker said smugly. "You like Colle. You can't deny it. You looked like you were enjoying how close you two were just a few moments ago."

"I was?"

"If you didn't, you would've pushed her off you."

"I'm going to go find Colle." Phantom announced abruptly, wanting to get away from Tucker's probing. "Bye!" He quickly flew off, but not before hearing Tucker saying something to Sam.

"You have competition."

* * *

Danny had changed into a human just before entering his house. His mom and dad were down in the lab.

"Hello, Son!"

"Hey, Mom, Dad. Have you seen Colle?"

"No, Sweetie, I haven't." His mom replied. "But you can go and see if she's studying with Jazz."

"Thanks, Mom."

"See you at dinner, Danny."

"Bye, Son!"

Danny left the lab and checked Jazz's room. Jazz was studying, but Colle was nowhere in sight.

"Jazz, where's Colle?"

"She's not with me." Jazz told him, looking up from her papers. "I thought she was with you at the park."

"She left."

"Maybe she went into her room."

"I'll go check. Thanks, Jazz." Danny walked out of Jazz's room and went to the room next to his and knocked.

"Colle, are you in there?" No answer. Danny cautiously opened the door and walked in. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary—except for a folded piece of paper next to the vase on the bedside table that the ice rose used to be in. Danny walked over to the paper and picked it up. When he unfolded it, he realized it was a note. Danny read it, and his heart nearly stopped.

 _'Dear Danny,_

 _If you are reading this, then it means that I have left. I'm sorry, Danny. I wish I could've stayed, but I couldn't. It's not because of you, Tucker, or even Sam. I have left because I have a task I need to complete. I want you to know that I appreciate all you and your family have done for me, Danny. I know what you're thinking right now. Don't come looking for me. This is something I need to do alone. I'll miss you, Danny._

 _\- Colle'_

Danny sat down on the side of the bed with his mouth agape in disbelief. She left. Colle left. Questions ran through Danny's mind ran a mile a minute.

 _What's the task Colle needs to complete?_

 _Why does she need to do it alone?_

 _Why did she leave me?_

All of these questions were going to remain unanswered. Then, it finally registered in Danny's mind that the ice rose was gone from its vase. Did that mean Colle had taken it with her? Danny decided it didn't matter. Right now, finding Colle was all that mattered.

* * *

 **Oh, no! Colle has gone missing!**

 **This is where the plot starts to progress. Hopefully, the chapters after this will be more better-er than the previous.**

 **We also find a bit more of Colle's backstory: when she got her ghost powers. Ain't it funny how Colle felt a magnetic force just like when she's around Danny? And can anyone guess what Colle's 'important task' is? It's sort of obvious if you're good at inferencing.**

 **I know this isn't much of a mystery story even though it _does_ contain mysterious things in it, but what I'm doing is making a bunch of tiny mysteries and putting it into this story. The biggest mystery right now, however, is: where did Colle go?**

 **Fun fact: The title of this chapter is Spanish for 'jealousy'.**


	9. Chapter 7: The Great Depression

**Here's the seventh chapter, folks! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: If I ever meet Butch Hartman, I'm gonna ask him if I can buy Danny Phantom from him. If he says yes, I don't care whether I have to pay with U.S. money, gold and silver, or hard labor- I'll to anything I can to get it, and when I do, y'all can expect a fourth season.**

* * *

"Hold up, dude." Tucker interrupted Danny. "You're telling us that Colle just left without telling anybody?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Danny affirmed. "The only thing she left was this note." He pulled out the note that Colle left behind and showed it to Sam and Tucker.

"Some friend she is." Sam said sarcastically after reading it. "That task must be pretty important is she left _you_ just to go and complete it. Let's just leave her to do her 'important task that she needs to do alone'." Danny was still confused over Sam's behavior when talking about Colle and the fact that they both seemed to be at each over's throats. Literally.

"Dude, I'm not trying to turn on you," Tucker said to Danny. "But Sam has a point. Colle was the one who left us. Maybe we should just let her be. She'll come back, man. I know you love her and want to make out with her, but she can take care of herself."

"If you two don't want to help me, then I'll find her myself." Ignoring Tucker's last statement, Danny transformed into Phantom and flew off back in the direction of his house before either could reply.

Maybe—just maybe—the Master of Time would help him.

* * *

Phantom could see Clockwork's citadel in the distance and subconsciously flew faster. He landed in front of the two huge wooden doors and was about to knock when they opened, revealing a purple-cloaked ghost.

"Young Daniel, I've been expecting you."

"Hi, Clockwork." Phantom said hastily. "I—"

"—came to find your friend." Clockwork finished in his unnervingly calm manner. "I assure you, everything is as it should be."

"Clockwork, I need to find her." Phantom could hear the desperation in his own voice growing with every word. "I need to know where she is. Please, tell me where she is." Clockwork sighed, slightly annoyed.

"Daniel, I understand your concern, but all I can tell you is that she is fine."

"Clockwork, _please_." Phantom begged. "If you can't tell me, show me."

"I cannot alter the timeline too drastically, Daniel." Clockwork told him. "And Nicole can take care of herself. She's done so since she was nine." Phantom couldn't help but think, off-topically, about what a pretty real name that Colle had. He pushed it to the back of his mind, focusing instead on finding her.

"I guess you know what's best." Phantom sighed, turning away from Clockwork and looking at the ground dejectedly.

"I really do understand you, Daniel." He said, putting his hand on Phantom's shoulder caringly, making Phantom turn his head to look at him. "I know everything that happens—or doesn't happen, past, present, and future. I can tell you this, Daniel: everything will be fine."

"Thanks, Clockwork. See you later, I guess."

"Goodbye, Daniel."

* * *

One week. One week since Colle left. Danny had gone out every day since her disappearance looking for her. Every day except today. He was starting to think that either 1) Colle didn't want to come back, 2) she was in trouble, or 3) she had…

"No… she's tough…" Danny said aloud to himself. "She can take care of herself… Clockwork said she was fine… and she's practically unkillable… she can kick my butt… she can kick anyone's butt… nobody can waste her…" he kept muttering to himself as he made his way into the kitchen of his house.

"Hey, Danny." His mom greeted, startling him.

"Oh… hi, Mom."

"Sweetie, you sound unhappy." Danny could hear the pity in her voice. "Are you still upset about Colle?"

"I'm fine, Mom." Danny said, attempting to perk up but failing miserably. He crashed down onto the nearest chair, slouching in his seat and hunching his shoulders. Jazz entered the room just as he did so, exchanging a sympathetic look with their mom.

"Danny, maybe you should go to the park." Jazz said as she walked closer. "It's scientifically proven that nature can improve your psychological health."

 _The park… that's the last place me and Colle hung out._ Danny shook his head sullenly.

"Danny, please. It will do you good."

"Fine!" Danny snapped. He could feel his eyes heating up and instantly knew that they were green and glowing. He didn't care. He stood up and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him. He went ghost and raced through the air, his snowy white hair whipping around in his face. He felt betrayed by all of his friends. Colle left him and his two remaining friends had refused to help him. Phantom felt an anguished wail rise up in his throat, but he didn't let it free. He finally started to slow down when he got to the very edge of town. The calm waters of the ocean were ahead of him. Phantom remembered that last time he saw Colle. He missed being able to hang out with her. He missed the way she'd always kick his butt when they would train. He missed the way she'd walk and talk. He missed every little detail about her. Phantom thought about all the things he regretted he said, and all the things he wished he'd said. He found out a long time ago that he had a crush on Colle, but now that Colle was gone, he was convinced it was more than just a small crush. No. It was much more. If it was a crush, he could've just shrugged it off. This wasn't anything like he'd felt towards Sam and Paulina. And Phantom had a hunch on what it was.

"Tucker was right." Phantom whispered in disbelief. "I'm in love with Colle…" Depression overcame him once again, albeit much stronger.

"…and I never got the chance to tell her."

* * *

 **Ok, so, this was a horribly short chapter, but I did that on purpose (yeah, right :)). I wanted to keep it short and simple so that we could just zone in on Danny's personal feelings**

 **I hated writing Danny being so depressed. It hurts my heart (does anyone agree?). But this is what Danny would go through if any of his friends or family died (rewatch The Ultimate Enemy if you don't believe me) so I was forced to write this.**

 **Poor, lovesick Danny just realized he's lovesick.**

 **Random useless fact: Spongebob Squarepants is the only Nickelodeon show from the 1990's that's still developing new episodes, making it the oldest Nickelodeon show that is still running.**


	10. Chapter 8: Storms

**Hey, guys! I finally got over my writer's block that I've had since chapter 5, so I was able to update faster.**

 **Anyway, I finished this chapter a couple of days ago, but then my mom accidentally ran over my dog Wednesday night, so I was delayed (I have the worst of luck.). For those who care, she's alright, though she'll take a while to recover.**

 **Enough with my blabbering and on with the story!**

 **Disclaimer: Butch Hartman owns Danny Phantom, not me (Though, as I've said before, I will buy him from Butch if I'm able to).**

* * *

The beeping of an alarm clock woke Danny from his restless sleep. He turned it off and got ready for the day, putting on his regular shirt and jeans. After he took a shower, brushed his teeth and hair—well, he tried to brush his hair.

"Why do I have to have such messy hair?" He complained indignantly. "Even after I brush it, it's all over the place."

 _'Danny, it suits you perfectly.'_ Danny could hear Colle's response as if she was here. ' _Just like you are,_ _it's all over the place_.' He smiled slightly as he thought of how they'd banter back and forth. He remembered one 'fight' in particular—actually, the last one they had before Colle had disappeared.

 _"Danny, I have a joke for you."_

 _"What is it?"_

 _"What kind of car will I drive when I get my license?"_

 _"What?"_

 _"A Volts-wagon!" Colle laughed._

 _"Seriously?"_

 _"Oh, come on. No laugh_ _?"_

 _"Nope."_

 _"Okay, then." Danny didn't like the way that Colle smirked at him. "I guess I'll just have to shock you, instead_ _." A bright yellow ring appeared at her waist, changing her light skin to pale blue, her blue eyes to red, and her blonde hair to black._

 _"Come here, Danny." Danny could see Specter's sharp fangs as she spoke. "Why are you backing away? I won't hurt you."_

 _"Colle…" Danny said in a warning voice. "If you're going to do what I'm thinking you're going to do, at least let me change into Phantom so that I can defend myself."_

 _"I'll give you five seconds… five… four… three—" Specter was cut off abruptly when Phantom tackled her to the ground, pinning her arms above her head and putting one knee to her stomach._

 _"Oof!" She hissed from below. "Phantom, you're dead!"_

 _"Well, technically I'm half-dead." Phantom joked, smirking down at her._

 _"Do you have a death wish?" Specter glared._

 _"Yeah. It was halfway granted." The next thing Phantom knew, he was shocked by a small voltage of electricity._

 _"Aah!" He jumped back from Specter like a cat from water, landing ungracefully on his back. She proceeded to pin him down with one black boot on his chest._

 _"Shocked, Danny?" Colle quipped with a smirk, showing her razor-sharp fangs. "You should know that I always win, Danny. Always."_

Danny missed Colle greatly, but he had looked everywhere he thought of for her and found not a trace of Colle. It was as if she was never in Amity Park in the first place.

"Danny, time for school!" Jazz's voice came from downstairs.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Danny called back irritably. He made his way downstairs, grabbing his backpack in the process.

"Let's get this over with." Danny said with as they climbed into Jazz's car.

* * *

Danny didn't set foot in the Casper High hallway for ten seconds before he heard a loud, obnoxious voice.

"Hey, Fen-turd!"

"Dash, not in the mood." Danny said with an annoyed tone, walking right past Dash without sparing so much as a glance.

"Oof!" Danny thought he felt his ribs crack as he was slammed into a locker.

"You listen here, Fenton." Dash growled, lifting Danny up against the lockers so that he was eye-level with him. "Nobody, and I mean _nobody_ , talks to me that way."

"Dash, I'm stronger than you'll ever dream of being." Danny ground out through clenched teeth. "I am in no mood to be messed with, so I suggest you let me go."

"You're going to pay for that, Fenton!" Dash pumped back one of his fists, but just as he propelled it forward, Danny kicked upward with a leg, nailing Dash right below his mouth and making him stumble backwards and fall. With a soft _thump_ , Danny landed gracefully on his feet. He heard "Oohs" echo around him from the other kids watching, but Danny's mind was on the boy who was currently on the ground. Dash held his face where Danny had kicked him; scarlet liquid leaked from his lower lip. He was bleeding. Danny Fenton made Dash Baxter _bleed_. Danny felt the corners of his mouth twitch upward slightly in a small but proud smirk. Dash looked up at Danny with a look of embarrassment and hate.

"You're going to pay for that, Fenton…" He threatened, but it didn't sound the same as before. He sounded angry—very angry—but the threat didn't have its usual promise. This made Danny's smirk grow just ever so slightly.

"You said that earlier, and look where it got you." Danny remarked, picking his backpack up and slinging it over his shoulder. "You shouldn't make so many promises. It seems like you're having trouble keeping them." People seemed to clear a way for Danny as he walked away. For the first time since Colle left, Danny felt as if things were finally starting to get better.

* * *

Danny was in the middle of Mr. Lancer's math class when his ghost sense went off.

"Ugh." Danny groaned as he raised his hand. "May I be excused?"

"Make it quick." Lancer didn't look very happy, however. Danny stood from his seat and left the classroom. He ran into the boys' bathroom, changed into Phantom, and he started looking for the ghost.

"Aaah! A ghost!"

"You would think that these people would be used to ghosts by now." Phantom muttered as he flew to the source of the shouting. Turns out, a ghost snake was disrupting Mr. Lancer's class.

"Hey!" Phantom called, averting the snake's attention from a group of students cowering in the corner of the classroom. "What type of snake is good at math?" He fired a ghost ray at the snake, blasting it out of the window.

"Yay! Danny Phantom saved me!" Paulina yelled happily. Phantom ignored her and followed the snake, blasting it with another ghost ray once he was outside.

"An adder!" He shot the snake again and again, weakening it to the point where he could capture it. He uncapped the Fenton Thermos and a blue beam of light came out of it, sucking in the ghostly snake.

"Now to get back to Mr. Lancer's lecture." Phantom grumbled, going back into the boys' bathroom and changing.

* * *

At lunch, Danny was served the same garbage that he was always served. Nothing extraordinary happened until he sat down to eat. He let out a little yelp of surprise as someone forcefully lifted him into the air by the back of his shirt.

"Aaaahh!" He screamed as he was thrown into another nearby table with a _thud_ and a pained groan.

"Told you you'd pay, Fenton!" That feeling of things getting better had disappeared from Danny. _It never gets better._ He thought bitterly as he stood up with difficulty. His lower back throbbed from hitting the table. He wasn't up for five seconds before Dash grabbed a handful of his hair and threw him back down onto his hands and knees.

"Ow!" Danny grimaced. Dash proceeded to kick him onto his back, pinning Danny down with his foot on his chest.

"Fenton, you're dead!"

 _Well, technically I'm half-dead._ Danny smiled slightly at how much this reminded him of Colle.

"Go ahead and smile!" Dash sneered. "By the time I'm done with you, it'll be too painful for you to smile!"

"Dash, what did I tell you about making promises?" Danny quipped. "You're having trouble keeping them." That earned him a kick in the side—almost. As soon as Dash lifted his foot of Danny's chest, Danny snatched it and twisted it. Dash cried out in pain as he lost his balance and fell down. Danny stood up with some difficulty; his lower back was still sore from the hit he took.

"Now, can you please let me eat in peace?" Danny asked in an annoyed tone as Dash got to his feet, glaring at Danny.

"Wait," Dash's angry look changed into a look that Danny didn't like. "Where's that girl you're always hanging around?"

"None of your business!" Danny snapped. Dash's smirk grew, knowing he'd hit a sensitive spot.

"I haven't seen her for the past week." Dash continued, and Danny's feelings started to swirl around inside of him. "Did she dump you? Is that why you've been so depressed lately? Because she didn't want to hang out with a loser like—" Danny let out a battle cry and lunged for Dash. Dash was probably not expecting that reaction out of him, so he was unprepared. Danny knocked Dash down and started pummeling the bully with his fists. Mr. Lancer and another teacher decided to walk into the lunchroom at this time

" _Anne of Green Gables_ , Mr. Fenton!" Lancer yelled. "Stop this unnecessary violence!" Danny ignored him and kept punching Dash—until he was pulled away by Mr. Lancer and the other teacher. Danny struggled for a moment before he gave up, glaring at Dash with his 'scary eyes'. The busted lip Danny had given Dash earlier had started bleeding heavily, and now he had a bloody nose to go with it.

"Mr. Fenton," Lancer said. "What is the cause of this?"

" _Him_." Danny growled.

"Mr. Lancer," Dash spoke before Danny or Lancer could say anything. "I just wanted to know where Colle Spencer was. Then he attacked me because of it." Danny's anger swelled up at the half-truth. And for once, Danny couldn't think of a witty reply to battle Dash with.

"If that's the case, then you have a month's detention, Mr. Fenton."

"What about Dash?" Danny said indignantly. "He started it!"

"Dash is free from punishment due to his performance at the last football game." Lancer told him, making Danny even angrier.

Today definitely was _not_ one of Danny's best day ever-s.

* * *

 **I remember the one time I had detention. It wasn't fun.**

 **I originally wasn't going to put Colle in this chapter, but I thought that we needed more Danny/Colle time, so I threw in a flashback.**

 **This chapter was also one of the most fun to write for the pure reason of writing Dash getting beaten up by Danny (more than once!).**


	11. Chapter 9: Gone

**Hi there!**

 **I actually have not much to say right now, apart from the STAAR tests tomorrow. So I decided to try to write this chapter before those horrible tests, since I probably will not have time to update until Thursday or Friday. Wish me luck!**

 **Disclaimer: Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman because there would be a National Danny Phantom Day if I owned him (Who knows, maybe there is a National Danny Phantom Day :)).**

* * *

 **Gone**

 _"You can't catch me, Danny!" Specter taunted as Phantom chased after her in the moonlit park, laughing as they played._

 _"I've caught every other ghost in Amity Park," Phantom responded. "So catching you will be a piece of cake!" he flew faster. Specter looked over her shoulder with a smile on her face before turning invisible._

 _"Hey! That is so not fair!" Phantom pouted, landing on the ground. "Okay, Colle, you win." When he got no response, he got a little annoyed._

 _"Colle, you can stop now." When he still got no answer, his irritation was replaced with a slight worry. "Colle? Are you there?" It might've just been because of his ice core, but Phantom felt the temperature around him drop. A chill went down his spine._

 _"Colle?" Phantom called—and then he heard a scream. But it wasn't just anyone's scream…_

 _It was Colle's scream._

 _"Colle!" Phantom yelled, taking flight and racing in the direction that the scream had come from. However, as he flew towards the noise, the trees started to grow thicker until he could barely fly without hitting one. Then, he found a small clearing in the center of the forest._

 _And in the middle, lying in a puddle of her own ectoplasm, was the mangled body of Specter._

 _"No!" Phantom flew over to her, dropping to his knees beside her. He gently laid her in his lap, holding her close to his chest. Phantom cupped Specter's face with his free hand._

 _"Oh, Colle…" He whispered ruefully. Then, Specter's eyes fluttered open slightly. Phantom subconsciously drew her closer to him._

 _"Dan…ny…" She let a small smile pass on her lips, raising a shaky hand and stroking his cheek. Phantom moved a strand of black hair out of Specter's eyes, putting it behind her ear. Specter moved her hand to the back of Phantom's head and pulled him into a kiss. Phantom immediately kissed back, but as soon as he did, Specter's hand dropped limply to her side and she changed into human form, making Phantom draw back in confusion. Colle's eyes were closed and her mouth was still slightly open from the kiss._

 _"Colle?" Phantom shook her shoulder a little bit. She was unresponsive. Colle was…_

 _… dead._

"Aah!" Danny bolted into a shaky upright position, sweat beading his forehead. He stared wildly around, realizing that he was in his room, in bed. As his heart rate and breathing slowed, Danny's dream replayed in his mind. He had a feeling in his gut that that dream was not just a dream.

"I have to find Colle." Danny said to himself. "I don't care if have to skip school or if my parents think I'm lost… I can't let that happen to Colle." An idea popped into his mind, and he got dressed and went down into the Fenton Works lab.

* * *

Phantom was in front of Clockwork's lair, inches from the huge, wooden doors. He turned intangible and snuck into the citadel. He floated over to the large, round viewscreen set with gears that could show the past, present, and future. Dark and light green streaks swirled around in the screen like a vortex.

"I wonder where the 'on' button is…" Phantom muttered, trying to picture in his mind what Clockwork always did. But, conveniently, a scene appeared on the glowing viewscreen. It showed… Colle Specter… and she was flying towards a mansion that looked mysteriously familiar.

"Plasmius!" Phantom growled. "I should've guessed that he'd have something to do with this." He spun on his heel and flew out of Clockwork's citadel.

And little did Phantom know that the Master of Time was watching him the whole time with a small smile on his face.

* * *

It took Phantom a few hours to get to Wisconsin.

"Who knows what's happened since I left the Ghost Zone…" He muttered, worried about Colle. Then, he saw Vlad's mansion in the distance. Phantom raced faster and faster until he though he broke his speed record. Then, using his momentum, along with his superhuman strength, Phantom blasted through the bricked wall of the mansion. He looked around, noticing that the mansion had been nearly destroyed on the inside, though it looked like it was slowly being repaired. An obvious sign of a fight.

"Plasmius!" Phantom roared, hearing the pure hatred in his own voice. He flew through the mansion, looking for Colle, Vlad, or any of Vlad's minions. Phantom phased through a wall that led down to Vlad's lab, flying so fast that he could hardly stop himself from crashing into the wall when he got there. The lab… looked like it had gone through an explosion. Everything was destroyed. Then, Phantom saw a blue-skinned figure with black hair sleeping in a chair in one corner of the lab. Phantom floated closer, and as he did so, red eyes opened to stare up at him. It was…

Vlad Plasmius.

Phantom seized Plasmius by his neck and forcefully slammed the older halfa against the wall, making him grunt in pain.

"Where—is—she?" Each word was ground out through gritted teeth.

"I don't know… what you're talking about…" Plasmius gasped for breath. Phantom tightened his grip on Plasmius's neck, and Plasmius started to wheeze.

"Where is Colle? I know she came here, Plasmius! Tell me where she is!" Phantom was losing his temper, and he was losing it rapidly. Phantom was just about to use his ghost stinger on Plasmius when he himself was electrocuted instead.

"Aaahhh!" Phantom crumpled to the ground, smoldering. With Phantom no longer holding onto him, Plasmius also collapsed. Plasmius, however, recovered more quickly than Phantom and snatched the white-haired teen's wrist and held him up so that they were eye-level with each other.

"Daniel, what… is wrong with… you?" Plasmius snapped, trying to suppress his coughing. Phantom started to struggle in Plasmius's grip.

"Where is Colle?"

"Child, I do not know who you are talking about!"

"Nicole Spencer!" Phantom spat. "What did you do with her?"

"Nicole…" Plasmius suddenly released Phantom, who let out a little yelp when he hit the ground, before turning away, looking deep in thought. "I've heard that name before."

"Yeah? Tell me where," Phantom said sarcastically. "I'd _love_ to know." Plasmius ignored his sarcasm. Phantom then saw something mentally click in Plasmius's mind.

"Nicole… now, that's a name I've not heard in a long time."

"How do you know her?" Phantom interrogated, aggravated by Plasmius's vagueness.

"That is none of your business!" Phantom was slightly taken aback by Plasmius's sudden burst of rage, but he didn't let it show. Instead, he flew up into Plasmius's face, snatching the front of his suit in his hand and pulling Plasmius closer to him until their faces were just a centimeter apart.

"Fine then, but now you know who I'm talking about," Phantom growled, "and I know that she's been here. So, where—is—Colle?"

"I don't know!" Plasmius retorted. "I wasn't home when this happened!"

"Then where were you?"

"I can't remember! It was about a week ago!" Phantom's eyes widened and he backed away from Plasmius.

"Then—then why is your house destroyed?" He asked.

"I don't know." Plasmius answered. "I came back and it was like this. I'm still trying to find out who did it." Phantom turned away from Plasmius, looking down at the ground.

 _If Plasmius isn't behind this, then who is?_ He thought hopelessly. Then, he noticed something on the ground where he was looking. Upon closer inspection, it was a snapshot. Phantom, momentarily forgetting about Plasmius, picked it up and tried to make out what was on the old, faded picture. He expected it to be some sort of picture of his mom, dad, and Vlad, but instead, it was something totally different.

It was a picture of a family with four members on it, a man, woman, and two little girls, presumably sisters. Both had blonde hair and blue eyes, but one was wearing a strikingly familiar black cloak. Phantom rubbed his thumb over the cloaked sister to clear it up a little, and realization set in when he recognized her face.

This was a snapshot of Colle and her family. Then he noticed that a note was attached to the back of the picture.

' _Looking for your friend, Danny?_

 _Don't worry. She's with me, in the Ghost Zone…_

 _… Tied up and waiting for her "hero" to come rescue her._

 _For convenience, she's at Skulker's lair.'_

"Skulker!" Phantom spat. "He's using her as bait!" he turned his head so he could look over his shoulder at Plasmius.

"Just so you know, Plasmius, if you were the one that captured Colle, you'd be dead by now."

* * *

Phantom had wasted no time in getting from Vlad's mansion to Skulker's lair. He knew this part of the Ghost Zone so well that he didn't need a map anymore to navigate—though he still got lost in other parts of the Ghost Zone. After what seemed like a lifetime—or rather, afterlife-time—Phantom finally saw the floating jungle island with a huge skull towering over the rest of it. It was Skulker's island. Phantom took landing once he was there and not-so-cautiously looked for Colle.

"Colle?" He called for his friend. He went deeper into the jungle until he could barely walk without hitting a tree. This looked eerily familiar…

Then he heard a scream.

"Colle!" He took flight again, turning intangible so that the trees wouldn't slow him down. After about a minute, he came to a small clearing. It also looked strikingly familiar, though Phantom had never been here before. Then he caught sight of a figure in the center of it, lying in a puddle of scarlet-speckled ectoplasm.

Specter.

"Colle!" Phantom flew towards her, not caring about the ectoplasm that got on his suit as he dropped to his knees beside the blue-skinned ghost girl. He picked her up and held her in his lap, using his free hand to cup Specter's face. Specter's eyes opened slightly from the movement. She smiled, just barely enough for Phantom to see, and she lifted a hand to stroke his cheek.

"Dan…ny…" Phantom held her closer to his chest, moving a strand of black hair out of her face. Specter's hand moved to the back of Phantom's head, and she pulled him downward into an electrifying kiss. Phantom could _feel_ the buzz of electricity passing from Specter's lips to his own. But it only lasted a second, for as soon as their lips connected, Specter's hand fell limply from Phantom's head and she transformed into her human form. Phantom drew back so that he could see her face, and saw that her eyes were closed and her mouth slightly open from the kiss.

"Colle?" Phantom shook her shoulder a bit, but she was unresponsive…

… Colle was dead.

Phantom's nightmare had come alive.

"No!" He cried out in anguish. Tears rolled down Phantom's face as he clung to Colle's lifeless body. He prayed over and over again in his mind that this was just a dream. A very bad dream. But it wasn't. Through his sobbing, he heard footsteps. Phantom looked up and saw a pair of ruthless, blood-red eyes that belonged to his ultimate enemy.

"Hello, my pathetic younger self."

* * *

 **OH MY GOOD GRIEF!**

 **I hated, hated, hated, ...**

 **(nine hundred ninety-six "hated"'s later)**

 **... hated writing this chapter! I feel like I killed the other half of Danny that's still alive! But I needed to, in order for the story to progress.**

 **Now the story has taken a (hopefully) unexpected twist. I couldn't stop myself from adding Danny's 'ultimate enemy' into the story.**

 **Also, this story is currently at 17 favorites and 29 followers. So, my little tiny goal that I've set up is to reach 20 favorites and 30 followers. If it doesn't happen, don't worry! I'll still keep writing (I don't like it when awesome stories are discontinued because they didn't reach xxx favs/followers. It's kind of unfair to the people who's already faved/followed them.)**

 **Just for kicks, I'm going to have a fun fact at the end of every chapter (You learn something new every day!)**

 **Fun Fact: Today is March the 27th, the day in which the Goliad Massacre occured in 1836.**


	12. Chapter 10: Bereaved

**I'm gonna talk like Yoda starting on the next sentence.**

 **On schedule, I am!**

 **Not much to say, have I.**

 **Quiet, I will be, and allow you to read the chapter, I will.**

 **Disclaimer: If Danny Phantom, I owned, returned in season 3, Dan would have. Butch Hartman, the owner of Danny Phantom is.**

* * *

 _Phantom looked up and saw a pair of ruthless, blood-red eyes that belonged to his ultimate enemy._

 _"Hello, my pathetic younger self."_

Phantom stared open-mouthed, dismayed and speechless.

"And goodbye." Dan fired a powerful ghost ray at Phantom. Still holding on to Colle's unmoving body, Phantom turned intangible and sunk into the ground.

 _I can't defeat him,_ He thought. _Not now, I can't._ Phantom had to get Colle to a more peaceful place than in a battlefield. He flew as fast as he could while carrying Colle bridal-style. Phantom couldn't bring himself to show up at Amity Park with a Colle's corpse, so he went to the only other place he could think of at the moment:

Vlad's mansion.

Phantom went through Vlad's ghost portal, transporting him to Vlad's lab.

"V-Vlad?" Phantom couldn't keep his voice from trembling. Now that he was safe for the moment from Dan and not being shot at, there was nothing to distract Phantom from Colle. He heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Daniel, what are—" Vlad abruptly stopped when he saw the teary-eyed, white-haired teen and the lifeless body he held.

"Vlad, she's... she's…" Phantom hoped that he would get at least a _little_ sympathy from Vlad.

"Here, my child, let me take her." Vlad walked closer to Phantom, who reluctantly let him take Colle's body. "I'll put her someplace where her body will be preserved until her burial." Phantom turned his head to the side ruefully, not wanting to meet Vlad's gaze.

"I understand your situation, Daniel." Vlad said sincerely before walking over to a door that opened to another room and going inside. As the door closed, Phantom suddenly became so exhausted that he could no longer stay in ghost form. Now human, Danny stumbled over to the chair that Vlad was in earlier and slumped down in it. He wanted to sleep, but too much was on his mind for that to happen, not to mention the threat of Dan. Danny tightly shut his eyes, trying to conceal his tears as he thought of what had happened to Colle because of his older, evil self. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder, making Danny look over to his right. He was trying so hard not to cry that he didn't hear Vlad come into the room.

"You can have one of the guest bedrooms if you require time by yourself, Daniel." Vlad said kindly. Danny had to give Vlad credit: he sure was nice when he wasn't trying to hit on Danny's mom or humiliate—or destroy—his dad.

"Thanks, Vlad." Danny pushed himself up and trudged up the stairs that led up to the rest of the mansion. When he finally found a bedroom in the huge house, Danny sat on the bed. He brought his knees up to his chest and curled his arms around them. A silent tear rolled down his face. Danny just couldn't believe that Colle had died. She was always so vigilant and nimble, always aware of what happened around her. It seemed impossible to Danny that anyone could win a fight against her. After a while, Danny started to get sleepy, so he lied down and fell into a troubled, restless sleep.

* * *

Danny was woken from his nap when he heard a knock on the door. He sat upright in bed and looked around, wondering where he was and why he was here.

Then he remembered.

Danny crawled off of the bed when another knock came from the door, and he answered it halfheartedly.

"Hello, Daniel." Vlad greeted. "I came to ask you where you wanted to… bury Nicole."

"She shouldn't have to be buried." Danny mumbled, looking down. "She shouldn't have died."

"I'm sorry, Daniel, but it must be done."

"I... I want her in Amity Park… with me…" Vlad nodded.

"I put her body in a casket," He told Danny. "I think it's time for us to take her there." Danny said nothing. Instead, he sorrowfully nodded his head.

* * *

Vlad was pulling into the Fenton Works driveway, and Danny's parents came rushing out, along with Jazz, Sam, and Tucker. Once the truck was parked, Danny and Vlad got out.

"Danny!" All five of the others yelled simultaneously, rushing forward.

"Sweetie, where were you?" Danny's mom fussed. "Your father and I were worried sick!"

"Dude, why are you with Vlad?"

"Danny, why didn't you tell me where you went?"

"You scared me and Tucker when you just up and left!"

"Quiet!" Danny snapped at all of them, making them recoil as if he'd punched them. Danny turned and followed Vlad to the back of his vehicle, helping the older man carry the casket. The others watched silently as Danny and Vlad brought it over to them and gently laid it down.

"I…" Danny's voice trailed off before he found it again. "I… found Colle…"

"What?" Their shock was so great, a blind person could see it on their faces and a deaf person could hear it in their voices.

"Vlad helped me bring her back so that we could… bury her…" Now, all of their faces showed sympathy—except for Sam's. She still looked angry at Danny because he 'just up and left'. Danny tried his best to ignore it.

"We'll start setting up the funeral." Danny's mom told him.

* * *

The funeral was nearly over. It was almost time to bury Colle's body. Danny was next to Colle's opened casket while the others decided to leave him alone with her. Earlier, his mom called the cemetery to have Colle buried not too long from now. Danny took in all of Colle's features. She looked peaceful, despite the cuts and bruises that she had. Then, Danny saw something under Colle's cloak. He unclasped the cloak so he could get a better look at it.

And Danny saw that it was the ice rose that he'd given Colle on Valentine's Day.

"Dude, what are you planning on doing with her?" Tucker's voice nearly made Danny jump out of his own skin. He spun around to face his friend and saw that he had a smirk. Danny felt his face burn with embarrassment when he realized what Tucker was referring to.

"I wasn't doing anything!" Danny insisted, but since he was blushing, Tucker probably wouldn't believe him.

"Sure you weren't, dude."

"I wasn't!" Danny insisted. "I saw this." Danny delicately picked up the rose and held it in front of him so that Tucker could see it.

"And who gave her that?" Tucker inquired with a smug, knowing look.

"I—I did... on Valentine's day." Danny admitted.

"I knew it!" Tucker exclaimed. "I knew you always had a crush on her!"

"Yeah…" Danny turned back to Colle's casket and placed the ice rose in her hands, which were positioned on her middle.

"I'm sorry, dude." He heard Tucker say solemnly. "I know you really cared about her. I'll stop bothering you and leave you alone, now. See you later, dude."

"See you later." Danny didn't look back at Tucker. Instead, he kept his eyes on Colle. He wished that, wherever she was, Colle was in a better place.

* * *

A stray tear rolled down Danny's cheek when Colle's casket was finally completely buried. He furiously wiped it away, trying to save his pride. He felt a hand on his shoulder, making look over. Vlad had a look of doleful on his face. Danny didn't know why Vlad decided to stay until after Colle's burial, but he could tell that it was important to the older man.

Everyone was starting to get ready to leave when Danny's ghost sense went off. He looked around, alarmed, and tried to find the ghost. He didn't see any ghost, but, instead, he was blasted with a powerful ghost ray.

"Aaahhh!" He shouted in pain as he landed with a _thud_ on the ground.

"Danny!" Everyone exclaimed.

"Run!" Danny barked at them as he struggled to stand. Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and Vlad proceeded to try to get Danny's parents out of the area. Then, he heard a voice.

"Did you really think you could run away from me?" It was the voice of Dan. Danny spun on his heel and glared at Dan with his 'scary eyes'. Danny went ghost, changing to Phantom.

"You killed her!" He spat at Dan.

"Oh, _I'm_ not the one who killed her." Phantom did not like the smirk on Dan's face. " _You_ did."

"I am not you." Phantom growled. "And I never will be."

"You keep on saying that," Dan remarked darkly. "But can you guarantee it? You don't know your future, therefore you can still turn into me."

"You keep on saying that," Phantom mocked as he charged up an ecto-energy ball. "But can you guarantee it? You don't know my future, either, therefore I can still stop from turning into you." He fired it at Dan, but the other blocked it with an ecto-shield.

"Is that the best you can do?"

"No," Phantom said. "This is!" He drew in a deep, angry breath and let loose his ghostly wail. However, Dan seemed to be ready for this, for he, too, used his ghostly wail. Dan's wail greatly overpowered Phantom's, so Phantom was thrown backward into the lone building that stood in the cemetery. Phantom realized that the only way he won his last battle with Dan was because he had the power of surprise. Now, however, Phantom didn't have any surprises. Dan knew everything that was going to come at him. Phantom realized that to defeat Dan, he needed to get help from Clockwork.

"Well, I'm glad we had a chance to chat and catch up with each other, but it's about time I go." Phantom flew away towards his house.

"You can't run from me!"

"Actually, I'm flying from you!" Phantom corrected.

Phantom could hear Dan as he rocketed towards Phantom. The wind whistled in his ears, and he could hear Dan racing behind him. Phantom could sense that Dan was getting closer. He flew faster until he finally made it to Fenton Works. Phantom turned intangible and flew into the ground into the lab. He barely had enough time to open the ghost portal when Dan came rushing towards him. Phantom flew through the portal with Dan hot on his tail.

 _I need to get to Clockwork!_

 _I need to get to Clockwork!_

 _I need to get to Clockwork!_

That was Danny's only thought at the moment as he soared through the Ghost Zone towards Clockwork's citadel. As he drew nearer, he looked back to see if Dan was still following him. Phantom must have lost him since Dan was no longer in sight. He slowed down a bit as he came to the clock-filled citadel. As he landed in front of the great big doors, they opened to reveal Clockwork.

"Hello again, Daniel." He greeted. "Come in."

"Thanks, Clockwork." Phantom walked into the citadel. "I have a couple of questions: Why did you lie and how did Dan escape?"

"I never lied about anything." Clockwork denied calmly.

"Um, yeah, you did." Phantom argued. "You said that Colle was going to be fine, but now she's _dead_!"

"You are twisting my words, Daniel." Clockwork pointed out. "I said that everything was going to be fine, not that Colle was going to be fine. As for how Dan escaped, it was only a matter of time before he did. Even you knew, deep inside your mind, that he would escape someday. It is because he lives outside of the timeline that I could not tell when he was going to break free."

"Clockwork, I need your help." Phantom said, getting straight to the point. "I can't take on Dan alone, and you're the only ghost I know that can defeat him."

"I cannot help you defeat him directly, Daniel." Clockwork told him. "But I can teach you a few things that I know."

* * *

 **Sorry, I am, if fast-paced, this chapter is and if too nice, Vlad seems.**

 **A big role, Clockwork will play, but only four main characters, I can put on the story summary.**

 **If stick around, you do, a surprise in the next chapter, you will receive.**

 **Fun fact: (To keep it clear and not confusing, I will say this normally) It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has to begin with.**


End file.
